THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


BY 

FREDERICK  A.  RHODES,  M.D. 

President,    Economic    and    Sociological    Section,    Ex- 
President   and    Ex-Secretary,    Eugenic    Section    of 
the  Pittsburgh  Academy  of  Science  and  Art; 
Chairman    Pittsburgh    Morals    Efficiency 
Commission. 


BOSTON:      RICHARD    G.    BADGER 
TORONTO:    THE  COPP  CLARK  CO.,  LIMITED 


Copyright,  1915,  by  Richard  G.  Badger 


All  rights  reserved 


THE  GOBHAM,  PBESS,  BOSTON,  U.  S.  A. 


PREFACE 

No  man  knoweth  what  a  day  may  bring  forth,  and  no 
body  of  men  can  declare  what  may  be  the  condition  of 
this  or  that  nation  a  generation  hence.  To  present  a 
book  on  "  The  Next  Generation  "  may  seem  presumptuous 
to  the  careful  students  of  history.  While  our  best  plans 
for  the  future  may  be  overthrown  by  unsuspected  coming 
events,  we  must  build  for  the  future,  let  come  what  may. 
Since  society  cannot  exist  without  government  in  some  form 
or  another  and  since  a  good  state  of  government  requires 
that  a  majority  of  the  individuals  be  of  a  reasonable  mind, 
any  treatise  which  considers  seriously  those  things  which 
are  for  the  betterment  of  the  race  should  command  some 
consideration. 

Does  blood  tell?  Can  a  mother  influence  her  daughter 
by  thoughts,  deeds  and  things  seen  during  the  develop- 
ment of  her  child?  Can  we  safely  adopt  a  foundling? 
Who  is  to  blame  that  the  child  is  born  deformed  or  men- 
tally defective?  These  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  ques- 
tions which  are  continually  being  asked  in  any  discussion 
concerning  future  generations. 

Any  teaching  which  states  that  the  son  of  a  thief  must 
steal  or  that  the  son  of  a  drunkard  is  condemned  to  a 
drunkard's  grave  is  doing  much  harm.  We  all  agree  that 
good  parents  with  a  good  state  of  society  predisposes  to 
good  children,  but  religion  demands  that  all  be  given  a 
chance. 

5 

333427 


6  PREFACE 

Any  statements  made  prior  to  1875  concerning  the  de- 
velopment of  the  body  must  be  taken  at  a  discount,  for  it 
was  not  until  that  year  that  Hertwig  demonstrated  that 
the  ovum  and  the  spermatozoon  acting  together  caused 
fertilization.  Much  stated  along  these  lines  since  1875 
is  of  little  value,  because  embryology  is  a  science  under- 
stood partially  by  few  and  completely  by  none. 

There  are  over  £00  religions,  and  while  the  most  of  us 
believe  all  of  the  essential  things,  there  are  some  details 
in  which  we  disagree  in  part,  even  in  our  own  particular 
religion.  We  must  remember  that  a  normal  man  has  a 
free  will  and  is  not  predestined  to  eternal  punishment  even 
though  he  be  a  Jew,  Catholic,  Unitarian,  Presbyterian,  or 
an  unbeliever. 

Pure  heredity  for  all  our  characteristics  means  strict 
eugenics,  euthenics  being  impossible.  This  cannot  be  ac- 
cepted by  any  body  of  rational  religious  men.  Practical 
eugenics  with  euthenics  makes  possible  the  salvation  of 
sinners,  even  though  so  vile.  It  is  the  reward  of  justice 
tempered  with  mercy. 

It  is  impossible  to  discuss  a  scientific  subject  without  a 
fairly  good  understanding  of  that  subject.  There  is  no 
more  interesting  and  difficult  subject  to  fully  understand 
than  man  himself.  Could  the  child  in  utero  be  influenced 
by  mental  impressions  of  the  mother,  some  of  the  children 
born  would  be  awful  specimens  of  human  beings.  We 
thank  nature ;  it  is  not  so.  Most  children  are  born  with- 
out physical  blemish.  Those  marked,  deformed  and  men- 
tally defective  are  such  as  the  result  of  disease  and  injury 
on  the  part  of  the  parents.  Such  conditions  are  due  to 
the  natural  workings  of  physical  laws.  Maternal  impres- 


PREFACE  7 

sions  are  not  possible  because  at  no  time  in  the  development 
of  the  child  is  it  connected  to  the  mother  by  means  of  the 
nervous  system.  The  only  connection  is  by  the  blood 
which  cannot  carry  any  impressions  from  the  brain.  If 
the  adult  is  an  enigma,  the  child  at  birth  is  more  so.  Why 
he  presents  this  or  that  aside  from  "  like  begets  like," 
is  not  only  interesting,  but  often  difficult  to  explain. 

In  the  last  few  years  we  have  much  evidence  of  eugenics 
gone  mad.  There  are  those  who  would  cure  all  ills  by 
having  the  next  generation  so  ideal  that  all  the  children 
would  be  born  perfect,  at  least  to  those  who  give  the  blue 
ribbons  at  the  baby  shows.  To  obtain  such  prize  children, 
these  faddists  and  poorly  informed,  would-be  eugenists 
would  breed  men  and  women  like  chickens  and  Angora 
cats.  Were  it  even  possible  to  produce  a  generation  of 
physically  perfect  infants,  the  problem  of  the  adult  de- 
terioration would  not  be  entirely  solved.  Much  could 
theoretically  be  accomplished  by  this  perfect  mating,  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  some  of  our  most  perfect 
babies  become  poor  citizens  while  some  of  our  highly  cul- 
tured men  and  women,  whose  lives  have  been  most  beauti- 
ful, and  whose  names  shall  be  long  remembered  in  history, 
were  poorly  nourished  and  were  not  of  a  physical  type  to 
command  admiration.  It  would  require  many  generations 
to  eliminate  many  undesirable  qualities  from  many  se- 
lected perfect  types  of  physical  development,  even  though 
we  could  completely  segregate  them.  We  are  all  more 
or  less  hybrids  or  mongrels ;  latent  characteristics  are  con- 
tinually cropping  out,  and  we  blame  a  remote  ancestor  for 
some  present  imperfection,  even  though  it  was  due  to  sin 
or  disease  in  ourselves  or  our  parents. 


8  PREFACE 

Is  physical  perfection  a  thing  to  be  desired?  Most  of 
us  on  first  thought  would  answer  that  it  is.  Yet,  the 
various  qualities  are  at  best  only  relative.  What  would 
be  a  state  of  society  in  which  all  were  of  perfect  physique, 
in  perfect  health  with  plenty  of  this  world's  goods? 
Would  the  world  move  as  rapidly?  Physicians,  under- 
takers, policemen,  physical  culture  teachers,  misfit  clothing 
merchants,  etc.,  would  need  to  turn  preachers,  for  just  as 
soon  as  man  has  all  he  needs,  no  worries,  he  often  forgets 
his  church  and  enters  upon  a  life  of  ease  and  dissipation. 
This  would  probably  be  a  very  unsatisfactory  place  to 
live  with  no  sick  to  care  for,  no  needy  to  look  after,  noth- 
ing to  stir  our  souls  to  acts  of  kindness  and  mercy.  Such 
a  condition  might  tend  to  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest," 
with  man  reverting  to  the  animal. 

In  the  various  chapters  of  "  The  Next  Generation,"  no 
attempt  is  made  nor  is  it  thought  possible  to  provide  any 
scheme  of  society  where  such  a  state  of  idealism  can  for 
generations  to  come  attain  whereby  all  will  be  physically 
and  morally  perfect.  Attempts  only  are  made  to  show 
how  it  is  possible  by  prevention  and  education  to  eliminate 
much  of  the  misery,  sorrow  and  crime  in  this  good  old 
world.  It  is  possible  to  demonstrate  that  physical  laws 
always  act  truly ;  when  they  are  broken,  physical  sins  will 
be  committed,  and  "  wild  oats  "  when  sown  produce  results 
which  must  be  cured  by  physical  laws. 


CONTENTS 

PAG1 

WHY  WE  ARE  WHAT  WE  ARE IS 

EUGENICS:     MEANING  AND  IMPORTANCE 28 

EUGENICS:     BIOLOGICAL  AND  SOCIOLOGICAL     ....  36 

PARENT  AND  CHILD 42 

LIFE  AND  REPRODUCTION 47 

VARIATIONS 57 

THEORIES  OF  INHERITANCE 61 

DETERMINATION  OF  SEX 71 

WHAT  CONDITIONS  ARE  INHERITED? 76 

INSANITY  AND  ALCOHOLISM 83 

SYPHILIS  AND  TUBERCULOSIS 95 

DEFECTIVES  —  WHO  ARE  THE  SANE? 98 

MIND  AND  BODY 113 

IMMIGRATION         123 

CHURCH  AND  EUGENICS 138 

THE  CHURCH,  SOCIETY  AND  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL      .      .      .  149 
FEMALE  LABOR:     EFFECT  ON  OUR  HOMES      .      .      .      .157 

RACE  SUICIDE 175 

CRIME 184 

POVERTY  AND  CHARITY 190 

WAR  AND  FUTURE  GENERATIONS 199 

TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE 209 

MARRIAGE  AND  EUGENICS 220 

WHY  GIRLS  Go  WRONG 233 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

WHY  MEN  Go  WRONG 240 

WHO  Is  RESPONSIBLE? 250 

APPENDIX 264 

Hereditary  Insanity  a  Defense 264 

What  Eugenics  Does  Not  Mean 265 

Modern  Women  —  Maternity 265 

Eugenic  Belief  —  Charity 266 

Criminals 267 

Value  of  Disease  in  Character  Development     .      .      .  267 

Eugenics:  Biological 269 

Eugenic  Limits 269 

Marriage  Advice 270 

Sex  Mutilations 271 

A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL      ....  273 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Practical  eugenics  includes  euthenics,  hence 
means  both  heredity  and  environment. 

"Eugenics  is  the  study  of  agencies  under  so- 
cial control  that  may  improve  or  impair  the  racial 
qualities  of  future  generations,  either  physically 
or  mentally." —  Gallon. 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


WHY  WE  ARE  WHAT  WE  ARE 

There  lived  a  man  who  raised  his  head  and  said, 

"  I  will  be  great/' 
And  through  a  long,  long  life  he  bravely  knocked 

At   Fame's   closed  gate. 

A  son  he  left  who,  like  his  sire,  strove  high  place  to  win; 
Worn  out  he  died  and,  dying,  left  no  trace 

That  he  had  been. 

He  also  left  a  son  who,  without  planning  how, 
Bore  the  fair  letters  of  a  breathless  fame 

Upon  his  brow. 
"  Behold  a  genius,  filled  with  fire  divine," 

The  people  cried, 

Not  knowing  that  to  make  him  what  he  was, 
Two  men  had  died. 

— 7.  E.  M.     Unknown. 

THERE  can  be  no  dispute  concerning  the  scrip- 
tural statement  that  man  born  of  woman  is  of 
few   days    and   full   of   trouble.     While   our   so- 
journ here  may  be  pleasant  or  otherwise  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  our  birth  was  not  due  to  any  thought  on  our 
own  part.     It  does  not  appear  profitable  to  continue  the 
old  controversy  as  to  how,  why,  and  by  whom  this  old  world 
was  created.     We  are  here;  we  recognize  our  inability  to 
solve  unsolvable  problems;  we  believe  in  a  greater  force 

13 


14  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

than  our  mind  and  we  are  satisfied  that  there  is  a  future 
life  in  some  other  form  than  that  we  now  possess. 

Is  the  parent  responsible  for  the  child?  Can  a  good 
condition  of  society  exist  without  the  majority  of  the 
individuals  being  good  physically  and  morally?  The  ex- 
istence of  the  state  demands  a  condition  of  social  adjust- 
ment for  the  welfare  of  all  concerned;  the  majority  of 
persons  determine  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral  stand- 
ards of  the  various  social  units.  In  the  final  analysis  of 
man,  it  must  be  concluded  that  morality  is  the  world's 
problem  to-day.  Notwithstanding  our  supreme  efforts 
to  obtain  as  much  as  possible  of  earthly  possessions  and 
indulge  in  the  pleasures  of  life,  a  state  of  true  satisfaction 
is  not  attained  by  these  things. 

In  a  recent  number  of  the  Lancet,  David  Nicholson, 
M.R.C.P.,  in  discussing  Mind  and  Motive,  says :  "  Crime 
is  to  be  regarded  in  the  main  as  an  occupation.  It  is  too 
much  to  expect  a  young  thing  —  an  infant  or  infant 
brain  —  to  rise  superior  to  the  compulsory  education  in 
crime  with  which  criminal  parentage  and  the  criminal  at- 
mosphere generally  smother  it.  I  defy  the  children  of 
the  most  intellectual  and  cultured  and  moral  Lord  Chan- 
cellor or  Lord  Archbishop  not  to  succumb  under  similar 
circumstances.  Besides,  the  heredity  idea  to  crime  takes 
the  heart  and  hope  out  of  all  philanthropic  and  legislative 
measures  for  the  education  and  proper  upbringing  of  chil- 
dren and  youths." 

The  father  of  an  idiotic  child,  in  answering  my  inquiry 
as  to  the  possibility  of  his  having  been  drunk  at  the  time 
of  the  conception  of  this  child,  said  that  his  wife  had  al- 
ways accused  him  of  having  been  drunk  at  that  time.  It 


WHY  WE  ARE  WHAT  WE  ARE  15 

is  certain  that  alcoholism  or  illness  in  either  parent  at 
the  time  of  the  conception  is  very  likely  to  affect  the  child. 
We  must  take  a  reasonable  view  of  the  subject  and  can 
say  that  the  children  of  alcoholics  may  be  defective,  but 
are  not  always  such.  When  they  are  we  have  an  explana- 
tion. If  a  marksman  only  hits  a  bull's  eye  once  in  ten 
times,  he  is  still  too  dangerous  for  any  one  to  want  to 
put  himself  up  for  a  bull's  eye.  You  can  never  tell  when 
and  where  some  things  will  hit. 

Sin  is  defined  as  a  departure  or  transgression  from  the 
normal.  A  normal  man  is  defined  by  the  alienist  as  one 
who  conforms  to  the  customs  and  laws  of  the  country,  by 
knowing  right  and  wrong. 

Sin  is  defined  by  the  Church  as  of  two  kinds:  original, 
or  that  inherent  predisposition  in  every  man  to  do  wrong, 
handed  down  to  us  on  account  of  Adam's  sin;  and  actual 
sin,  or  our  departure  from  known  laws  which  are  laid 
down  for  us  to  obey. 

Let  us  consider  as  a  basis  of  argument  in  the  remarks 
which  follow,  that  we  have  before  us  a  man  of  good  phys- 
ical development.  For  our  premise  we  grant  his  having 
been  influenced  by  two  forces :  (a)  the  blood  and  mind 
of  his  ancestors ;  and  (b)  the  external  influences  to  which 
he  has  been  subjected  since  his  birth. 

We  may  presume  him  to  have  had  a  very  pious  and  sub- 
missive mother,  a  God-fearing  and  fiery-tempered  father, 
a  highly  intellectual  grandfather,  a  common  every-day 
grandmother  on  his  mother's  side,  while  one  of  his  great- 
grandfathers was  of  powerful  physique,  whose  wife  was 
an  Irish  lass  of  high  spirits  and  later  a  great  scold. 

As  far  as  we  can  determine,  the  development  of  the 


16  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

child  in  the  maternal  body  is  from  the  union  of  two  germ 
cells,  the  ovum  and  the  sperm,  and  is  entirely  organic  and 
material.  These  cells  unite,  divide,  and  multiply,  adding 
to  themselves  continually  for  their  nourishment  material 
substances  from  the  blood  of  the  mother. 

The  child  is  born ;  nothing  of  mind  or  soul  that  can  be 
demonstrated  has  been  added  to  the  child  in  its  develop- 
ment, except  the  potentialities  of  the  cells  in  their  differ- 
entiation in  the  formation  of  tissues  and  organs.  Should 
the  child  die,  the  soul  (can  this  be  a  creation  of  the  human 
mind?)  must  take  flight  to  regions  unknown.  Should  it 
live  and  the  physical  development  continue  in  a  normal 
way  mind  is  gradually  developed  until  in  later  years  it 
becomes  the  man  referred  to  above,  whom  we  will  suppose 
to  be  a  reasonable  being. 

A  missionary  from  a  Protestant  church  preaches  to  a 
small  gathering  of  heathen  in  Korea,  and  as  is  to  be  ex- 
pected, a  certain  number  of  them  accept  the  teachings  as 
new  truths.  They  believe  and  are  saved.  Let  us  suppose 
then,  there  is  a  missionary  from  the  Catholic  faith,  an- 
other a  follower  of  Mohammed,  another  preaching  the 
doctrines  of  Buddha,  and  still  another  and  another,  until 
many  of  the  various  religious  beliefs  are  represented  in 
heathen  Korea. 

Our  supposition  is  that  each  of  these  religious  teachers 
invades  a  different  section  of  that  country  and  that  in 
each  case  the  missionary  is  blessed  with  a  number  of  con- 
verts and  is  happy.  Do  any  or  all  of  those  accepting  the 
new  religions  understand  the  meaning  of  their  new  beliefs? 

Our  conclusion  must  be  that  most  people,  regardless  of 
their  geographic  location,  accept  and  believe  the  teachings 


WHY  WE  ARE  WHAT  WE  ARE  17 

of  their  own  parents,  sect,  church,  or  tribe,  without  a  sat- 
isfactory explanation  as  to  why  they  believe  as  they  do. 
All  religions  are  to  a  great  extent  at  least  based  upon 
mysticism,  added  to  which  we  have  superstitions  which  are 
taught  from  birth  and  which  become  the  great  determin- 
ing principle  in  their  religious  beliefs. 

It  is  quite  evident  from  a  study  of  history  that  there 
is  no  fixed  code  of  laws  for  all  people.  It  is  also  evident 
from  a  study  of  religions  that  each  and  every  one  of  their 
teachings  requires  a  strict  observance  of  certain  laws, 
based  upon  their  individual  understanding  of  what  they  be- 
lieve is  right  and  wrong.  All  the  lawgivers,  whether  Bud- 
dha, Confucius,  Mohammed,  Moses,  or  Christ,  taught  a  be- 
lief in  a  supernatural  Being,  a  higher  ruling  Power,  who  is 
all-wise,  always  present,  and  who  administers  justice  with 
a  firm  hand.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  their  ideas  of 
actual  sin,  or  transgressions  against  the  laws  of  God  or 
man,  are  similar  in  many  respects.  Yet  in  spite  of  these 
universal  teachings  we  recognize  that  many  things  right 
to-day  are  wrong  to-morrow  —  that  what  is  permitted  in 
one  Church  is  forbidden  in  another.  Those  things  virtu- 
ous in  one  part  of  the  world  are  sins  in  another  part. 

"  No  man,"  says  a  theologian,  "  can  demand  the  for- 
giveness of  his  sins.  If  forgiveness  is  granted,  it  is  an 
unmerited  favor,  for  which  gratitude  and  praise  is  the 
appropriate  response." 

Protagoras  — "  Nothing  is,  in  itself,  by  itself,  but  only 
a  certain  relation  to  some  other  things." 

Socrates  — "  Not  knowingly,  nor  voluntarily  does  any 
man  do  wrong.  Nay  more,  he  who  should  knowingly  do 
wrong  were  a  better  man  than  he  who  should  do  the  same 


18  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

thing  ignorantly.  All  virtue  is  intelligence,  wisdom;  and 
as  wisdom  embraces  all  virtues,  virtue  may  be  called  a 
science." 

Aristippus  — "  Whatever  contributes  to  pleasure  is  a 
good  thing,  as  wisdom,  virtue,  friendship  —  good  for  the 
reason  only;  whatever  interferes  with  it,  an  evil  thing. 
Pleasure  is  good,  but  not  the  desire  of  pleasure." 

Plato  — "  There  are  three  great  principles ;  sense,  rea- 
son, and  emotion.  Emotion  is  inferior  to  reason,  but 
superior  to  sense.  These  three  potentates  rule  the  soul; 
appetite,  spirit,  reason,  like  the  three  divisions  of  the 
plant,  animal  and  man  in  nature.  The  soul  has  existed 
in  a  previous  state,  is  indeed  an  eternal  imperishable  ex- 
istence. Virtue  is  knowledge;  the  two  ideas  are  insepa- 
rable. No  one  is  willingly  or  voluntarily  evil;  only  from 
ignorance  does  any  man  do  evil.  Where  science  is,  then, 
there  is  knowledge  of  the  true  and  good,  and  so  there  is 
morality.  The  vicious,  ignorant  man  is  a  bungling 
artist." 

Euripides  — "  I  know  that  what  I  am  about  to  do  is 
evil,  but  desire  is  stronger  than  my  deliberations." 

Paul  — "  That  which  I  do,  I  allow  not,  or  approve  not." 

Aristotle  — -"  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  we  knew  all 
along  certain  things  without  knowing  that  we  knew  them 
until  the  moment  of  sensation  and  reminiscence.  Sensa- 
tion is  often  erroneous  in  its  conclusions,  however  reason 
is  not  so.  Sometimes  we  desire  real  good,  at  others  only 
apparent  good.  The  basis  of  all  moral  acts  is  some  natu- 
ral disposition.  First  there  arises  an  irrational  impulse 
to  good.  Reason  comes  in  afterward  with  its  sanction. 
Virtue  does  not  come  in  life  until  reason  is  developed. 


WHY  WE  ARE  WHAT  WE  ARE  19 

Men  have  power  by  their  conduct  over  their  imagination 
and  conception.  Those  who  sin  ignorantly  should  be 
punished  for  their  ignorance,  provided  they  should  have 
known.  It  is  better  to  live  gloriously  for  one  year  than 
for  many  years  as  the  common  herd." 

Spinoza  — "  Nothing  is  contingent  since  everything  is 
determined  to  act  and  be  by  the  necessity  of  its  nature." 

Malebranche  — "  Passions  differ  from  inclinations  in 
this:  the  latter  relates  to  the  soul  as  their  object,  the 
former  to  the  body.  Passions  are  the  impressions  of  God 
on  us  which  dispose  us  to  love  our  body  and  seek  its  wel- 
fare. Inclinations  are  impressions  leading  to  the  love,  not 
of  body,  but  of  soul,  as  God,  ourselves,  our  neighbors,  etc. 
Virtue  consists  in  pure  intentions  and  dispositions  of 
mind." 

Leibnitz  — "  Moral  evil  is  based  on  the  premise  of 
human  freedom,  or  the  choice  of  many  acts,  all  of  which 
are  physically  possible.  From  various  causes  he  chooses 
oft  that  which  is  ill  —  hence  moral  evil  or  sin ;  yet  in  the 
end  even  this  shall  prove  for  the  best  as  regards  the 
whole." 

Hobbes  — "  Thought  is  only  transformed  sensation,  so 
good  and  evil  are  only  other  expressions  for  pleasure  and 
pain.  Avoid  the  disagreeable  and  seek  the  pleasurable. 
Our  volitions  or  desires  are  determined  by  motives  exter- 
nal, so  that  we  are  creatures  of  irresistible  necessity* 
Reason  teaches  to  do  whatever  can  be  done  to  promote 
our  own  enjoyment.  In  other  words,  might  makes  right." 

Abelard  — -"  Sin  is,  properly  speaking,  a  voluntary 
error.  The  propensity  to  evil  which  we  inherit  is  not 
itself  sin.  Only  the  consenting  to  evil  is  sin;  only  that 


20  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

which  is  in  conflict  with  our  own  moral  consciousness." 
Descartes9  Rules — (1)  Obey  the  laws  and  customs  of 

the  country. 

(£)   Adhere  with  constancy  to  a  given  course  and  be 

not  easily  turned  aside  from  any  proposed  measure. 

(3)  Take   the   side   of  moderate   opinions,   because   in 
morals,  that  which  is  extreme  is  almost  always  wrong. 

(4)  Labor  to  overcome  yourself  rather  than  fortune, 
because  one's  desires   are  more  easily   changed  than  the 
order  of  the  world,  and  nothing  is  in  our  own  power  but 
our  thoughts. 

Mill  — "  Because  certain  things  are  so  in  our  experience, 
it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  everywhere  and  always.  Moral 
responsibilities  do  not  involve  freedom  of  the  will.  Vo- 
lition follows  moral  causes.  Necessity  teaches  that  a 
superior  power  overrules  our  destiny,  and  that  our  char- 
acters are  formed  for  us,  not  by  us." 

Spencer  — "  No  idea  or  feeling  arises  save  as  a  result 
of  some  physical  force  expended  in  producing  it." 

Tyndall  — "  Thought  has  its  correlative  in  the  physics 
of  the  brain ;  it  is  probable  that  for  every  fact  of  con- 
sciousness, whether  in  the  domain  of  sense,  of  thought,  or 
of  emotion,  a  certain  definite  molecular  condition  is  set 
up  in  the  brain ;  this  relation  to  consciousness  is  invariable, 
so  that  given  the  state  of  the  brain,  the  corresponding 
thought  of  feeling  might  be  inferred." 

Huxley  — "  All  vital  actions  are  the  result  of  the 
molecular  forces  of  the  protoplasm  which  displays  it. 
Even  these  manifestations  of  intellect,  of  feeling  and  will, 
which  we  rightly  name  the  higher  faculties,  are  not  excep- 
tions to  this  rule,  but  are  known  to  every  one  but  the 


WHY  WE  ARE  WHAT  WE  ARE  21 

subject  of  them,  only  as  transitory  changes  of  the  relative 
positions  of  the  part  of  the  body." 

Maudsley  — "  The  brain  cells  manufacture  thought, 
emotion,  and  the  various  operations  of  what  we  call  the 
mind.  This  is  their  function  as  really  as  it  is  the  func- 
tion of  other  organs  to  secrete  bile,  gastric  juice,  etc.  To 
think  and  to  feel  is  as  truly  the  function  and  province  of 
the  brain  cells  as  is  that  of  the  stomach  to  digest  food. 
If  the  mind  is  disordered,  the  consciousness  partakes  of 
the  disorder,  and  reports  accordingly, —  that  is,  falsely. 
The  man  is  conscious  that  he  is  king;  or  that  he  is  made 
of  glass,  and  the  like.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  trusted. 
The  soul  is  an  entity  in  the  sense  in  which  a  tree  or  a 
house  is  one  by  the  combination  and  cooperation  of  the 
several  parts  of  which  it  is  composed.  It  is  one  only  as 
the  brain  cells  cooperating  to  produce  a  given  effect,  and 
the  ceasing  thus  to  act,  the  disorder  of  dissolution  of  the 
cells  which  constitute  mental  activity,  would  be  the  disso- 
lution of  that  unity,  and  in  fact  of  the  soul  itself." 

A  number  of  opinions  of  the  greatest  philosophers  have 
been  given.  In  some  respects  they  agree,  but  in  the  great 
part  they  are  at  variance.  After  a  somewhat  careful  and 
critical  study  of  philosophy,  it  must  be  concluded  that  the 
age  and  customs  of  the  country  in  which  the  philosopher 
lived  determined  largely  the  nature  of  his  particular 
philosophy ;  this  depending  upon  certain  other  factors  as 
his  own  environment,  observations  and  physical  condition. 
It  is  found  that  many  philosophers  were  deformed,  sickly, 
and  could  not  enjoy  pleasure.  The  philosophy  of  the 
individual  is  not  the  philosophy  of  the  nation.  The  only 
way  many  of  these  righteous  men  could  uphold  their  ideals 


22  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

was  by  living  in  solitude.  Is  it  virtue  in  the  monk  who 
will  not  mingle  with  the  mass  of  people,  or  in  the  old  maid 
who  is  so  homely,  sour,  etc.,  that  she  cannot  be  tempted? 
Is  it  virtue  in  those  who  are  born  free  from  certain  emo- 
tions, sensations  and  passions?  Seneca  said  that  he  who 
wished  his  virtue  to  be  blazed  abroad  is  not  laboring  for 
virtue,  but  for  fame. 

Do  we  forget  the  adjustment  of  man  to  light,  heat, 
physical  conditions,  etc.  ?  Know  we  not  the  incorporation 
or  transformation  of  the  inorganic  into  organic  and  back 
to  inorganic  in  the  metabolic  changes  of  our  body?  The 
irritation  of  the  already  live  tissues  producing  again  dead 
substances.  In  all  cases  energy  is  transformed.  In  man 
we  see  the  various  products  of  force,  dissimilarly  arranged, 
giving  at  one  time  genius,  at  another  power,  ad  infmitum. 
Possibly  it  will  be  only  a  few  years  until  it  can  be  demon- 
strated that  we  can  discern,  with  the  power  of  the  mind, 
with  our  fingers ;  mind  being  present  in  the  entire  body 
and  not  confined  to  the  skull  box.  Could  we  analyze  the 
complex  structures  in  man,  quality  not  quantity  of  cells 
in  each,  we  would  find  there  is  exerted  some  force  caus- 
ing metabolic  changes  which  are  eventually  recognized 
in  the  psychical  and  moral  manifestations  of  the  one  and 
same  entity.  The  cells  of  the  stomach,  which  determine 
the  quality  and  the  quantity  of  the  gastric  juice;  the  cells 
of  the  kidneys,  which  determine  exactly  what  substances 
shall  remain  in  the  blood;  the  cells  of  the  glands  beneath 
the  skin,  which  determine  the  nature  of  the  sweat  which 
leaves  our  body  daily  in  a  large  amount;  all  these  must 
be  thinking  cells. 

"  When  we  remember,"  says  Prof.  J.  Mark  Baldwin, 


WHY  WE  ARE  WHAT  WE  ARE  23 

"  that  in  the  search  for  causes  in  the  natural  world,  the 
difficulties  are  vastly  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  single 
causes  are  never  at  work  alone,  and  that  it  is  the  func- 
tion of  experiment  so  to  eliminate  elements  in  a  causal 
complex  that  isolated  agencies  may  be  observed  at  work; 
and  when  we  further  reflect  that  no  single  function  of 
mind  is  ever  found  operating  alone,  but  that  all  accompany 
and  modify  each,  the  inadequacy  of  simple  observation  in 
this  field  becomes  apparent. 

"  A  sense  stimulation,  for  example,  may  arouse  an  in- 
tellectual train,  an  emotional  outburst,  a  course  of  action ; 
are  all  these  effects  of  a  single  cause?  A  course  of  action, 
conversely,  may  result  from  an  emotion,  a  thought,  a  sen- 
sation, an  inspiration;  can  the  simple  description  of  the 
resulting  action  indicate  which  is  its  cause?  External  or 
bodily  causes,  an  odor,  a  spoken  word,  a  pain,  and  internal 
organic  movement,  may  start  a  train.  How  can  we  single 
out  the  cause  in  the  network  by  observation?  Only  one 
step  can  determine ;  the  reconstruction  under  artificial  cir- 
cumstances of  the  conditions  and  the  endeavor  to  exhibit 
a  single  isolated  cause.  This  is  experiment." 

Professor  Rice  says :  "  The  temperament  of  the  genius 
is  a  compound  of  exquisite  sensibilities  without  adequate 
control.  In  the  case  of  certain  artists,  the  over  develop- 
ment of  their  special  senses,  checks  the  operation  of  the 
higher  inhibitory  processes,  which  are  perhaps  naturally 
weak.  All  control  is  removed  and  the  wild  animal  rages 
in  her  without  restraint." 

Why  did  Cain  kill  Abel?  Was  the  murderer  a  rational 
being?  Did  he  inherit  certain  evil  propensities  from  his 
parents,  who  themselves,  although  made  in  the  image  of 


24  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

God,  were  tempted  by  the  devil  and  fell?  It  is  not  profit- 
able to  enter  into  theological  arguments  as  to  why  we 
were  created  with  the  ever-constant  tendencies  to  fall  from 
grace ;  enough  to  know  that  each  and  every  one  in  varying 
proportions  has  in  his  own  self  inclinations  to  do  those 
things  selfish  and  apparently  pleasing. 

Although  many  may  deny,  yet  the  fact  remains  that 
some  of  the  sins  of  the  father  are  visited  upon  his  chil- 
dren and  their  children.  The  child  is  frequently  born 
with  a  body  so  physically  constituted  that  it  is  entirely 
impossible  for  a  knowledge  of  right  or  wrong,  or  if  it 
may  know,  it  cannot  resist  the  workings  of  certain  phys- 
ical laws  which  compel  an  action  along  the  lines  of  least 
resistance. 

What  concerns  us  is  how  far  can  we  determine  our  own 
acts?  How  much  responsibility  can  we  place  upon  our 
ancestors?  And  how  much  of  the  good  or  evil  in  the 
world  to-day  and  after  years  is  charged  to  us,  for  which 
we  shall  receive  a  reward  or  punishment? 

Our  Moral  Obligations  —  1.  Duty  is  the  result  of  cus- 
tom and  experience  and  utility. —  Hume,  Spencer,  Bain. 

2.  Moral  obligation  is  the  innate  sense  of  an  external 
law  and  of  our  right  and  duty  to  conform  to  it. —  Kant, 
McCosh. 

3.  Moral  obligation  arises  from  the  presence  in  him  of 
the  absolute  revealing  itself  more  as  he  advances  in  right- 
eousness.—  Hegel,  Green. 

Responsibility  depends  upon  the  conscious  determina- 
tion of  the  will.  As  in  plant  life  we  see  the  influence  of 
tropisms,  viz.,  light,  heat,  electricity,  etc.,  on  its  develop- 
ment and  reproduction,  just  so  in  the  higher  forms  of  life 


WHY  WE  ARE  WHAT  WE  ARE  25 

we  find  many  influences  acting  upon  various  natures  of 
the  individual.  In  the  human,  reactions  are  very  great  in 
many  so-called  physiological  functions,  as  menstruation, 
pregnancy,  hunger,  fatigue,  etc.,  so  great  at  times  that 
there  exists  a  veritable  exhibition  of  a  double  personality, 
Jekyll  and  Hyde.  More  marked  are  the  changes  in  na- 
ture due  to  poverty,  infirmity,  removal  of  sexual  organs 
or  organic  disease. 

Some  one  has  said  that  whatever  is,  is  right.  Hence 
he  would  say  that  if  a  thing  is  certain  to  happen  it  can- 
not but  happen.  A  corollary  would  be,  what  is  to  be, 
will  be,  and  a  second  corollary  then  is,  if  it  could  not  be 
prevented,  will  could  not  change  and  freedom  of  will  does 
not  exist.  We  need  not  argue  further  along  this  theolog- 
ical line.  Philosophy  embraces  both  religion  and  science ; 
if  a  statement  in  religion  is  not  scientific  it  is  not  good 
philosophy.  It  is  better  to  say,  that  if  it  might  have 
been  otherwise,  then  the  thing  was  a  sin. 

Freedom  of  will  implies  consciousness ;  a  conscience  im- 
plies a  sense  of  obligation;  this  in  turn  depends  upon  an 
understanding  of  right  and  wrong  and  the  faculty  at  all 
times  of  reasoning  as  to  the  sin  of  disobedience,  or  more 
properly  the  deviation  from  fixed  laws. 

In  considering  the  dissensions  between  science  and  reli- 
gion, Drummond  said  that  the  spiritual  laws  are  not 
analogous  to  the  natural  laws,  but  that  they  are  the  same 
laws.  That  it  is  not  a  question  of  analogy,  but  one  of 
identity. 

Our  conception  of  matter  is  very  different  from  that  of 
many  of  the  philosophers  whom  I  have  quoted.  Could 
they  have  been  acquainted  with  the  present  known  facts 


26  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

and  hypotheses  in  modern  bio-chemistry  and  physical 
chemistry,  could  they  have  known  the  wonders  of  wireless 
telegraphy,  etc.,  many  of  the  wise  (?)  sayings  of  these 
philosophers  would  be  entirely  contrary  to  what  they  then 
proclaimed. 

All  thought  implies  molecular  activity  of  nerve  cells; 
the  activity  depending  on  the  power  of  these  cells  to  re- 
spond to  various  stimuli.  All  energy,  regardless  of  its 
nature,  is  dependent  upon  fixed  laws.  If  cells  (a)  are 
acted  upon  by  force  (b)  the  result  is  action  (c),  but  let 
cells  (a)  be  affected  by  -f-  or  —  force  (b),  or  if  cells 
(a)  are  -(-  or  —  in  ability  to  react,  action  (c)  will  not 
be  manifest.  Hence  it  naturally  follows  that  if  the  nerve 
cells  of  the  brain  are  fatigued,  or  poisoned  by  toxins  cir- 
culating in  the  body,  then  the  response  will  not  be  that 
of  a  normal  man.  It  is  only  necessary  to  observe  the 
effect  of  fever  producing  delirium,  or  alcohol  benumbing 
man's  higher  intellectual  faculties. 

In  life's  struggle  to  live  properly  innumerable  factors 
are  continually  at  work  to  alter  the  normal  reactions  of 
our  body.  Our  social  conditions  are  such  that  greater 
efforts  are  necessary  to  maintain  a  proper  standard  of 
living  than  existed  in  the  time  of  our  forefathers.  The 
German  story,  Der  Fluch  der  Schoenheit,  is  a  good  illus- 
tration of  the  many  temptations  in  the  life  of  the  beauti- 
ful young  girl  to-day. 

In  a  recent  observation  of  the  inmates  of  an  excellent 
reformatory,  I  believe  that  many  of  the  boys  and  girls  at 
that  institution  are  no  worse  than  many  of  the  children 
in  some  of  our  homes.  Many  of  our  good  children  would 
have  reacted  as  they  have  done  had  they  been  placed  in 


WHY  WE  ARE  WHAT  WE  ARE  27 

the  same  environment.  The  character  formed  by  certain 
children  when  given  an  opportunity  to  develop  their  bet- 
ter faculties,  convinces  me  that  their  bodies  did  not  possess 
all  the  attributes  essential  for  a  responsible  being. 

Laying  aside  all  traditional  views  of  the  Garden  of 
Eden  and  Adam's  fall,  with  the  theological  dissensions 
regarding  Adam's  sin  affecting  all,  what  can  we  say  as  to 
our  actual  sin  to-day?  Our  reasoning  has  been  such  that 
we  can  conclude  that  the  man  with  a  normal  mind  and  body 
is  a  responsible  being,  and  can  will  to  do  or  not  to  do  a 
thing. 

A  sinful  act  may  not  be  prevented  to-day,  but  a  nor- 
mal mind  responds  with  repentance  and  a  determination 
!  to  prevent  a  second  indulgence  in  the  same  sin  to-morrow. 
A  new  environment  must  be  created  for  the  low  power  of 
resistance.  The  individual  is  dependent  upon  society,  and 
society  largely  determines  the  acts  of  each  individual. 
Therein  lies  an  important  duty  of  the  Church  to  properly 
care  for  the  individual  members  of  the  community. 

It  naturally  follows  that  a  disordered  body  will  produce 
an  unreasonable  mind,  but  as  it  is  impossible  for  any  one 
to  tell  at  just  what  age  the  irresponsible  child  becomes  a 
responsible  youth  or  .man,  just  so  difficult  is  it  to  say  that 
this  or  that  man  is  sane  or  not,  and  is  accountable  for 
certain  actions.  As  the  good  of  the  community  is  above 
that  of  the  individual,  so  must  the  community  or  society 
in  turn  to  a  great  extent  be  responsible  for  the  individual. 


EUGENICS:  MEANING  AND  IMPORTANCE 

THERE  is  no  subject  before  man  to-day  to  which 
the  words  of  the  song,  "  Let  a  Little   Sunshine 
In,"   are   as   applicable   as   to   the  study   of  man 
himself.     The    important    question    is    how    each    person 
should  live  that  he  may  most  benefit  himself,  his  family, 
his  country,  and  his  posterity. 

The  word  "  eugenics  "  is  derived  from  two  Greek  roots. 
"  Eu  "  signifies  "  good,"  and  the  last  part  of  the  word 
means  "  beginning,"  coming  from  the  same  root  as  the 
title  of  the  first  book  of  the  Old  Testament ;  liberally  trans- 
lated, the  word  implies  "  well  born,"  or  "  good  breeding." 
By  some  the  word  "  genetics  "  is  used  synonymously  with 
eugenics.  Genetics  implies  beginning,  birth,  development, 
to  be  born,  etc.  This  term  is  satisfactory  for  a  class  in 
elementary  biology,  but  is  inadequate  for  the  meaning  of 
good  breeding,  or  the  promotion  of  better  social  condi- 
tions. Eugenics  means  a  study  of  conditions  which  may 
influence  the  parents,  society,  and  the  State  in  the  de- 
termination of  the  character  of  future  generations.  An 
excellent  definition  of  "  eugenics  "  is  that  by  Galton  — 
see  frontispage.  To  obtain  a  clear  understanding  of  this 
subject  we  must  know  the  effects  of  physical,  mental  and 
moral  development,  and  the  restraint  of  the  same  upon 
individuals.  In  these  observations  it  is  important  to  note 
how  education,  food,  climate,  disease,  geographical  distri- 
bution, alcohol,  city  and  country  life,  sanitation,  immi- 
gration, labor  conditions,  marriage  and  divorce,  proper 

28 


EUGENICS:  MEANING  AND  IMPORTANCE     29 

housing,  poverty,  age,  physique,  conditions  of  society, 
etc.,  may  effect  individuals  and  their  children.  Eugenics 
is  studied  primarily  from  the  standpoint  of  the  biologist 
and  the  sociologist.  As  an  illustration  of  the  difference 
of  opinion  among  able  scholars  in  the  study  of  eugenics, 
let  me  quote  briefly  from  a  very  few: 

Dr.  F.  A.  Woods :  "  Experimentally  and  statistically 
there  is  not  a  grain  of  truth  that  ordinarily  environment 
can  alter  the  salient  mental  and  moral  traits  in  any  meas- 
urable degree  from  what  they  were  predestined  to  be 
through  innate  influence. 

"  All  evidence  we  possess  renders  it  highly  improbable 
that  any  of  the  ordinary  differences  in  human  environ- 
iment,  such  as  riches  or  poverty,  good  or  bad  home  life, 
;have  more  than  a  very  slight  effect  in  modifying  these 
|  complex  and  highly  organic  functions,  the  improvement  of 
which  is  the  hope  of  the  altruist  and  the  reformer." 

Professor  Spillman :  "  Improving  environment  does 
|  not  from  generation  to  generation  give  better  material 
for  our  schools  to  work  on.  We  have  been  dealing  with 
the  wrong  problem.  The  plain  and  evident  course  to  pur- 
sue is  for  us  to  be  more  careful  in  the  choice  of  our  parents 
I  and  grandparents." 

Havelock  Ellis :     "  So  far  as  practical  results  are  con- 

I  cerned,  it  is  not  enough  for  men  of  science  to  investigate 

(the  facts  and  the  principles  of  heredity,  and  to  attempt 

to   lay   down    the   principles    of   eugenics    as    the   science 

j  with  which  the  improvement  of  the  race  is  now  called.     It 

!  is  not  alone  enough  for  moralists  to  preach.     The  hope 

i  of  the  future  lies  in  the  slow  development  of  those  habits, 

those  social  instincts  arising  inevitably  out  of  the  actual 


30  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

facts  of  life  and  deeper  than  morals.  The  new  sense  of 
responsibility  not  only  for  the  human  lives  that  now  are, 
but  the  new  human  lives  that  are  to  come  ...  is  a  social 
instinct  of  this  fundamental  nature.  Therein  lies  its  vi- 
tality and  its  promises." 

The  first  practical  study  of  eugenics  in  America  was  by 
the  eugenic  committee  of  the  American  Breeders'  Associ- 
ation, an  association  of  scientists  and  practical  men  and 
women  to  study  the  development  of  plants,  animals,  and 
human  beings.  This  eugenic  committee  was  appointed  in 
1908,  and  included  among  its  members  Dr.  David  Starr 
Jordan,  Luther  Burbank,  Major  Woodruff,  Alexander 
Graham  Bell,  and  Prof.  W.  E.  Castle,  The  year  follow- 
ing a  permanent  section  of  eugenics  was  formed  by  the 
American  Breeders'  Association;  since  which  time  many 
investigations  have  been  made,  and  already  much  good  has 
been  accomplished.  This  society  is  now  called  the  Ameri- 
can Genetic  Association,  and  publishes  monthly,  The 
Journal  of  Heredity,  devoted  to  plant  breeding,  animal 
breeding,  and  eugenics. 

To-day  in  many  cities,  either  as  scientific  societies  or 
as  groups  formed  by  churches  for  the  study  of  sex-hygiene, 
parenthood,  etc.,  the  various  phases  of  eugenics  are  being 
discussed.  There  is  an  ever-increasing  demand  for  speak- 
ers by  organizations  which  desire  a  better  condition  of 
society,  physically,  socially,  and  morally. 

The  importance  of  good  breeding  is  being  realized  more 
and  more.  At  the  meeting  of  the  International  Purity 
Congress,  held  in  Minneapolis,  November,  1913,  there 
were  fourteen  papers  dealing  directly  or  indirectly  with 
the  subject  of  eugenics.  Probably  the  best  and  most 


EUGENICS:  MEANING  AND  IMPORTANCE     31 

pointed  was  by  Judge  Harry  Olson,  of  Chicago,  on  "  A 
^Constructive  Policy  Whereby  the  Social  Evil  May  be 
^Reduced."  He  said  in  part:  "Comprehensive  figures, 
taken  from  all  sections  of  the  country,  prove  a  start- 
lingly  large  per  cent,  of  recruits  from  among  women 
iwho  have  been  mentally  defective  in  childhood,  subnormal 
children.  The  early  detection  of  these  defectives  is  im- 
jperative,  not  only  for  their  own  benefit  and  happiness, 
but  for  the  protection  of  society.  The  public  schools 
jshould  be  used  as  clearing  houses.5' 

The  proceedings  of  the  National  Conference  on  Race 
'Betterment  held  at  Battle  Creek,  Mich.,  required  a  vol- 
[ume  of  685  pages. 

Epictetus  said  two  thousand  years  ago  that  one  horse 
jwould  not  say  to  another,  "  What  fine  bridles  and  sad- 
jdles  have  you  ?  "  but  rather,  "  How  swift  are  you,  and  how 
(much  can  you  draw?  " 

Scripture  says,  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth.  And  the  earth  was  without  form 
and  void  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep. 
And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 
And  God  said,  Let  there  be  light;  and  there  was  light. 
And  God  saw  the  light,  that  it  was  good;  and  God  di- 
vided the  light  from  the  darkness.  .  .  . 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the 
herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit  after 
his  kind,  whose  seed  is  in  itself,  upon  the  earth:  and  it 
was  so.  ...  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  bring  forth 
abundantly  the  moving  creature  that  hath  life,  and  the 
fowl  that  may  fly  above  the  earth  in  the  open  firmament 
of  heaven.  And  God  created  great  whales,  and  every  liv- 


32  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

ing  creature  that  moveth,  which  the  waters  brought  forth 
abundantly,  after  their  kind,  and  every  winged  fowl  after 
his  kind ;  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good.  .  .  . 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living 
creature  after  his  kind,  cattle  and  creeping  things,  and 
beast  of  the  earth  after  his  kind:  and  it  was  so.  ... 
And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our 
likeness  ...  so  God  created  man  in  his  own  image  .  .  . 
and  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground, 
and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life.  .  .  . 
And  the  rib  which  the  Lord  God  had  taken  from  man, 
made  he  a  woman.  .  .  .  And  Adam  knew  Eve  his  wife ; 
and  she  conceived  and  bare  Cain.  .  .  . 

"  For  I  the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting 
the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third 
and  fourth  generations  of  them  that  hate  me ;  and  showing 
mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that  love  me,  and  keep  my 
commandments." 

Several  years  ago  the  writer  urged  a  course  or  chair 
of  eugenics  in  every  large  college  and  university.  It  is 
pleasing  to  know  that  this  dream  is  rapidly  becoming  a 
reality.  Many  of  these  institutions  have  placed  this  study 
in  their  curricula,  and  in  a  few  years  no  school  of  stand- 
ing will  dare  omit  eugenics  from  the  list  of  compulsory 
studies,  while  smaller  schools  will  be  compelled  to  give  a 
course  of  lectures.* 

It  is  amusing  but  sad  to  realize  that  our  public  schools 

*  In  the  March,  1914,  number  of  the  Journal  of  Heredity,  the  an- 
nouncement is  made  that  there  are  now  forty-four  colleges  giving 
either  a  complete  course  in  eugenics  or  some  lectures  on  it  as  a  part 
of  another  allied  course.  Sixteen  teach  eugenics  in  their  zoology 
department,  eleven  in  their  sociology  department. 


EUGENICS:  MEANING  AND  IMPORTANCE     33 

have  expected  the  pupil  to  know  the  location  of  small 
islands  in  the  South  Pacific  Ocean,  the  height  of  a  moun- 
tain in  Asia,  the  population  of  Honolulu,  how  many  men 
fell  in  the  battle  of  Marathon,  to  learn  by  heart  "  The 
Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade  "  and  "  Thanatopsis,"  trans- 
late and  scan  Virgil,  memorize  verses  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  Greek,  and  find  the  value  of  "  pi "  in  geometry, 
|but  not  a  word  about  eugenics.  It  is  impossible  to  be- 
ilieve  the  ignorance  of  natural  physiological  laws  which 
many  of  our  children  exhibit  at  the  time  of  graduation 
I  from  our  high  schools  and  colleges.  The  average  mother 
ihas  failed  to  teach  her  daughter  important  truths,  because 
ishe  thought  it  was  too  delicate  a  subject  to  discuss  with 
ithem.  But  things  are  changing.  The  father  is  teaching 
ithe  boys,  the  mother  is  teaching  the  girls,  and  the  public 
schools  are  teaching  the  pupils  practical  biology.  Plants 
;and  lower  animals  are  studied  in  such  a  way  that  the  en- 
idowments  of  sex  are  more  easily  understood.  "  The 
proper  study  of  mankind  is  man." 

Prof.  Karl  Pearson,  of  the  University  of  London,  in 
j  the  Popular  Science  Monthly,  on  "  The  Scope  and  Impor- 
jtance  to  the  State  of  the  Science  of  Eugenics,"  Novem- 
jber,  1907,  stated:  "It  needs  more  than  a  little  boldness 
to  suggest  within  the  walls  of  one  of  our  ancient  universi- 
ties that  there  is  still  another  new  science  which  calls  for 
support  and  sympathy;  nay,  which  in  the  near  future  will 
demand  its  endowments,  its  special  laboratory,  its  tech- 
jnical  library,  its  enthusiastic  investigators,  and  its  proper 
!  share  in  the  curriculum.  The  true  test  of  all  technical 
| education  lies  in  whether  we  can  answer  in  the  affirmative 
jthe  question:  Does  it  provide  adequate  mental  training 


84  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

for  the  man  or  woman  who  has  no  intention  of  professional 
pursuits?  If  we  can,  then  only  may  we  assert  that  it  is 
a  fit  subject  for  academic  study." 

A  report  of  the  Eugenic  Section  of  the  American 
Breeders'  Association  says :  "  It  is  a  pressing  problem 
to  know  what  to  do  to  increase  the  birth  rate  of  the  su- 
perior stocks  and  keep  down,  proportionally  at  least,  the 
contribution  of  the  inferior  stocks.  Another  great  need 
is  the  simplification  of  the  standard  of  living,  for  it  is  the 
.inordinate  desire  for  display  that  makes  many  persons 
hesitate  and  begrudge  the  expense  of  children." 

A  prominent  eugenist  has  recently  said :  "  The  fact  of 
the  matter,  which  eugenics  hopes  to  mitigate,  is  social, 
and  its  roots  lie  in  social  clauses.  It  can  be  cured  only 
by  social  remedies.  Bracing  up  an  individual  here  and 
there  does  not  help ;  more  are  cast  down  in  a  day  than 
are  picked  up  in  a  year.  Bringing  about  an  occasional 
'  eugenic  marriage '  only  serves  the  immediate  individuals, 
and  serves  them  only  until  they  learn  that  artificial  mating 
without  love  brings  no  more  social  health  than  when  a 
king  mates  his  daughter  to  a  neighboring  prince  for  po- 
litical reasons. 

"  Eugenics  proposes  its  body  of  scientific  fact  as  the 
vehicle  for  its  social  message.  We  are  all  to  blame  for 
these  anti-eugenic  things.  There  is  a  child  condemned 
from  birth  to  epilepsy  or  syphilis  because  of  its  father's 
sin;  but  we  all  helped  and  permitted  that  father  to  sin 
by  neglecting  to  do  our  job  in  eliminating  the  brothel  or 
the  saloon.  There  is  a  brood  of  feeble-minded  children 
born  to  misery  and  to  be  a  social  cancer ;  we  are  to  blame 
in  not  demanding  that  the  parents  be  segregated  before 


EUGENICS:  MEANING  AND  IMPORTANCE     35 

they  became  parents  —  segregated  as  though  they  had 
smallpox.  There  is  a  mother  bringing  a  succession  of 
under-nourished  children  into  the  world  to  be  prostitutes 
and  criminals;  we  are  to  blame  for  the  slum  where  that 
mother  grew  and  for  the  sweatshop  where  she  played  out 
her  vitality  before  she  married  in  desperation  to  escape  it, 
or  in  the  passion  which  was  the  natural  result  of  her  un- 
trained parental  instinct." 


EUGENICS:  BIOLOGICAL  AND  SOCIOLOGICAL 

PLATO,  in  the  fifth  book  of  the  "  Laws,"  described 
what  he  termed  a  purification  or  purgation  of  the 
State,  and  said :  "  The  shepherd  or  herdsman  or 
breeder  of  horses  or  the  like,  when  he  has  received  his  ani- 
mals, will  not  begin  to  train  them  until  he  has  first  puri- 
fied them  in  a  manner  which  befits  a  community  of  animals : 
he  will  divide  the  healthy  and  the  unhealthy,  and  the  good 
breed  and  the  bad  breed.  The  best  kind  of  purification  is 
painful  like  similar  cures  in  medicine,  involving  righteous 
punishment  or  inflicting  death  in  the  last  resort."  Charles 
E.  Woodruff,  U.  S.  A.,  stated  some  years  ago,  "When- 
ever the  idea  is  suggested  that  some  means  must  be  taken 
to  lessen  the  terrible  modern  burden  of  the  pauper,  insane, 
defective,  and  criminal,  and  that  the  race  must  be  made 
better,  it  is  at  once  imagined  that  the  only  way  to  do  it 
is  by  copying  the  methods  of  the  plant  and  stock  breeder. 
Although  these  methods  are  hopelessly  out  of  the  question, 
the  full  absurdity  of  applying  them  to  man  is  not  realized 
until  the  matter  is  explained." 

Education  for  the  criminal,  fresh  air  for  the  tubercular, 
rest  and  food  for  the  neurotic  —  these  are  very  excellent, 
they  may  bring  control,  sound  lungs,  and  sanity  to  the 
individual,  but  will  they  save  the  offspring  from  the  need 
of  like  treatment  or  from  the  danger  of  collapse  when  the 
time  of  strain  comes?  Can  they  make  a  nation  sound 

in  mind  and  body?     Should  our  highly  developed  human 

36 


EUGENICS:  BIOLOGIC  AND  SOCIOLOGIC     37 

sympathy  longer  allow  us  to  watch  the  State  purify  itself 
by  the  aid  of  crude  natural  selections? 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  criminals  are  due  to  environ- 
mental causes  and  not  to  heredity.  Recent  prison  statis- 
tics show  that  many  criminals  are  the  children  of  parents 
who  were  moral,  or  whose  immorality  has  not  been  attrib- 
uted to  discoverable  crimes.  Few  criminals  are  descended 
from  criminals. 

We  return  our  criminals,  our  insane  and  tuberculous 
after  "  recovery  "  to  their  own  lives,  and  we  leave  the 
mentally  defective  flotsam  on  the  floodtide  of  primordial 
passions. 

A  few  absurd  experiments  in  marriage  have  been  made 
without  success.  Selected  marriages  violate  the  normal 
moral  sense  of  the  higher  races,  and  this  of  itself  is  un- 
natural, for  morality  in  the  long  run  is  highly  scientific, 
says  Woodruff,  as  it  is  the  crystallization  of  natural  laws 
followed  instinctively.  Immorality  is  contrary  to  nature. 
Within  the  past  few  months  many  cases  have  come  to  our 
notice  where  some  man  or  woman,  who,  believing  that  he  or 
she  was  perfect  from  an  eugenic  standpoint,  has  adver- 
tised for  an  equally  good  mate  with  the  hope  of  giving 
to  the  world  perfect  children.  We  have  also  seen  such 
perfect  children  reverting  to  a  former  poor  type.  Prac- 
tical eugenics  does  not  have  to  do  with  experimental  mar- 
riages. Sanity  must  prevail  in  our  efforts  to  better  man- 
kind or  else  we  fail. 

Our  best  hope  to  improve  the  human  race  is  to  discover 
the  worst  varieties  and  then  remove  the  causes.  We  must 
know  why  so  many  children  of  normal  parents  drift  into 
crime. 


38  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Bad  food,  bad  housing,  bad  clothing,  poor  environment, 
and  hundreds  of  adverse  conditions  have  affected  the  poor 
child  in  its  development  into  the  adult.  The  aim  of  eu- 
genics is  not  limited  to  the  selection  of  parents ;  it  includes 
all  the  measures  which  promise  to  improve  the  quality  of 
parents  or  to  prevent  their  degradation.  "  The  people 
dwelling  in  the  lower  wards  are  not  all  equally  good  or 
bad,  and  that  applies  also  to  those  living  in  the  mansions 
of  the  rich.  If,  as  there  are  good  reasoning  for  suppos- 
ing, the  unselfish  and  domestic  in  any  class  of  society  leave 
on  the  average  more  adult  offspring  than  the  self-seeking, 
the  vicious  and  the  depraved,  we  have  here  a  contrary 
force  working  towards  race  improvement." — Woods. 

"  All  recognize  the  fact  that  the  laws  of  heredity  which 
apply  to  animals  also  apply  to  man;  and  that,  therefore, 
the  breeder  of  animals  is  fitted  to  guide  public  opinion  on 
questions  relating  to  human  heredity.  .  .  .  We  should 
impress  upon  the  public  the  point  that  one  certain  means 
of  increasing  the  prevalence  of  any  hereditary  character- 
istic in  a  community  is  to  induce  the  individuals  who  pos- 
sess it  to  marry  one  another;  and  thus  produce  a  more 
potent  stock  in  the  next  generation." — Alexander  Graham 
Bell. 

"  The  difficulty  of  applying  to  mankind  the  same  meth- 
ods of  breeding  that  are  used  with  plants  and  animals 
has  been  considered  by  some  writers  as  an  obstacle  to 
human  progress,  but  in  reality  it  would  not  be  desirable 
to  apply  breeding  methods  to  mankind,  even  if  it  were 
possible  to  do  so.  Eugenic  reform  is  not  likely  to  attain 
very  wide  popularity  if  it  is  expected  to  result  in  a  condi- 
tion in  which  all  the  children  of  a  family  are  to  be  as 


EUGENICS:  BIOLOGIC  AND  SOCIOLOGIC     39 

much  alike  as  twins.  Too  many  writers  on  eugenics  over- 
look the  need  of  a  broader  and  more  truly  biological  point 
of  view,  and  restrict  their  attention  to  the  facts  of  hered- 
ity that  have  been  learned  from  garden  or  laboratory 
experiments  with  domesticated  forms.  Young  men  and 
women  who  prize  life  highly  enough  will  not  be  tempted  to 
choose  weak,  diseased  or  defective  partners,  or  to  take 
the  risk  of  bringing  crippled  or  weak-minded  children  into 
the  world  by  marrying  into  families  that  have  shown 
hereditary  abnormalities." —  O.  F.  Cook,  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture. 

"  If  we  wish  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  human  heredity  we 
must  study  human  beings  and  not  plants  and  animals. 
Much  danger  and  confusion  may  arise  when  any  facts 
drawn  from  our  knowledge  of  the  lower  organisms  are,  by 
analogy,  made  to  apply  to  man." —  Woods. 

Eugenics  is  full  of  hope  and  appeals  to  the  noblest 
feelings  of  our  nature.  Says  Alexander  Graham  Bell: 
"  The  great  hope  lies  in  the  fact  that  human  beings  pos- 
sess intelligence,  and  a  desire  that  their  offspring  may  be 
fully  up  to  the  average  of  the  race  in  every  particular  if 
not  superior." 

To-day  our  problem  is  for  a  vigorous  race  if  possible, 
but  above  all  this  we  are  demanding  a  more  moral  people. 
We  can  account  for  the  moral  decadence  of  the  ancient 
and  mediaeval  nations.  At  the  present  time  similar  forces 
are  at  work  with  the  savage  and  civilized  peoples  of  Asia, 
Africa,  and  the  islands  of  the  South  Seas.  The  carnal 
spirit  is  rampant:  polygamy,  sexual  relations,  etc.,  offend 
civilized  man.  The  pride  of  tribe  conquest  demands  these 
conditions.  The  preservation  of  good  people  in  intelli- 


40  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

gent  countries  compels  us  to  be  filled  with  alarm  as  the 
birth  rate  falls  with  such  nations. 

The  practical  problems  of  eugenics  are  many:  Better 
homes,  better  society,  more  sobriety,  less  vice,  an  underr 
standing  of  good  citizenship,  better  and  more  healthy  chil- 
dren, less  of  the  selfish  spirit,  peace  on  earth  and  good  will 
to  all  —  truly  a  proper  and  worthy  ideal.  May  it  be 
more  and  more  a  reality. 

Probably  in  about  the  order  mentioned,  the  biologist, 
physician,  minister,  educator,  editor,  lawyer,  parent,  prop- 
erty holder  and  citizen  have  become  interested  in  eugenics 
and  will  labor  to  make  it  a  practical  study. 

The  minister  thinks  of  the  moral  welfare  of  mankind, 
the  lawyer  of  rights  and  liberties,  the  physician  of  the 
normal  body,  the  civic  reformer  of  good  citizenship,  while 
the  eugenist  labors  for  a  condition  which  will  promote  the 
accomplishment  of  all  these  high  ideals. 

In  a  restricted  sense  eugenics  has  been  limited  to  the 
study  of  "  heredity,"  pure  and  simple,  with  no  consider- 
ation of  those  real  factors  which  influence  the  individual. 
To  this  other  phase  of  the  question,  which  we  understand 
as  "  environment,"  has  been  given  the  name  euthenics, 
meaning  "  good  influences."  The  practical  man  recog- 
nizes that  the  laws  of  heredity  are  not  so  fixed  that  re- 
gardless of  the  health,  vigor,  etc.,  of  the  parents,  the  off- 
spring will  always  bear  true.  Heredity  and  environment 
are  inseparable,  they  go  hand-in-hand,  always  working 
together.  Many  relief  associations  expect  to  take  chil- 
dren of  vicious  parents  from  very  poor  surroundings  and 
to  reconstruct  the  child  under  good  influences,  believing 
that  it  will  become  a  good  citizen.  On  the  other  hand 


EUGENICS:  BIOLOGIC  AND  SOCIOLOGIC     41 

many  believe  it  is  safe  to  entrust  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  good  parentage  to  any  environment,  feeling  that  their 
good  blood  will  prevent  them  from  slipping  on  any  of  the 
icy  paths  of  sin.  Can  a  child  be  safely  adopted  from  a 
foundling  home?  Do  reform  schools  reform?  Is  the  good 
child  always  sure  to  become  a  good  citizen? 

In  studying  researches  as  to  the  cause  of  intelligence 
or  lack  of  such  in  the  child,  I  am  led  to  believe  that  if  the 
character  of  the  child  differs  from  that  of  the  parents, 
some  investigators  are  too  apt  to  call  it  reversion  or 
atavism.  The  sudden  bursting  forth  of  great  men  —  mu- 
tations, if  you  please  —  is  held  by  some  to  be  the  result  of 
seed  sown  by  the  Divine  hand  for  a  purpose.  A  crisis,  as 
war,  may  be  responsible  for  the  greatness  of  many  men. 
The  time  and  the  circumstances  are  determining  factors. 
General  Grant  would  probably  have  been  as  able  a  defender 
of  Confederate  rights  had  he  been  born  of  Georgian  par- 
ents. 

In  the  extended  research  by  Dr.  Woods  on  "  Mental 
and  Moral  Heredity  in  the  Nobility,"  we  find  expressions 
like  these,  "  a  perfect  conformation  of  the  theory  of 
mental  and  moral  heredity,"  ..."  the  origin  of  the 
genius  of  William  the  Silent  is  not  quite  clear,  since  none 
of  his  ancestry  were  worthy  of  being  called  great."  In 
a  research  of  this  nature  I  believe  that  the  writer  is  too 
willing  to  call  it  a  case  of  reversion  or  atavism.  The  change 
in  the  line  of  transmission  of  characters  is  frequently 
charged  to  a  poor  marriage.  In  searching  for  the  an- 
cestry of  Uracca,  a  tyrannical  queen,  Dr.  Woods  found 
that  her  grandfather  had  a  violent  temper,  and  her  great- 
grandfather was  an  intriguer. 


PARENT  AND  CHILD 

IS  the  child  responsible  for  its  existence?  Is  the  par- 
ent to  be  held  accountable  for  the  actions  of  the 
child  and  the  adult  into  which  it  is  to  develop? 
Can  we  blame  our  parents  for  the  training  and  teaching 
that  we  are  such  and  such?  That  we  are  intelligent  or 
uneducated?  These  are  questions  which  demand  the  care- 
ful consideration  of  every  thinking  person. 

Are  any  prone  to  shift  the  responsibility  of  their  exist- 
ence and  actions  upon  an  invisible  higher  being,  or  to 
blame  their  ancestors  for  what  they  may  be?  It  is  true 
that  we  are  brought  into  the  world  without  our  consent 
having  been  asked,  and  it  is  also  true,  as  reason  tells  us, 
that  a  great  responsibility  rests  upon  each  and  every  per- 
son responsible  for  the  birth  of  a  human  being.  Natural 
laws  work  for  the  perpetuation  and  preservation  of  the 
individuals  and  the  race.  It  does  not  follow  from  care- 
ful observations  that  healthy,  intelligent  and  moral  par- 
ents will  always  have  children  who  will  become  as  their 
parents  have  been. 

Animals  protect  their  offspring  and  nourish  them  until 
they  are  able  to  care  for  themselves,  ofttimes  better  than 
man  cares  for  his  children.  Generally  speaking,  good 
parents  may  have  bad  children;  but  good  parents  will 
more  likely  have  good  children  if  the  community  at  large 
is  good  —  if  the  surroundings  of  the  child  are  for  the 

best  at  all  times.     How  willing  we  are  to  censure  the  pious 

42 


PARENT  AND  CHILD  43 

parents  if  the  child  goes  wrong.  We  demand  that  society 
'shall  be  of  the  highest  possible  type  that  each  parent  may 
'produce  and  develop  good  children.  With  these  thoughts 
Jin  mind,  can  we  look  back  and  blame  our  parents  that  we 
iare  not  better  than  we  are?  Should  the  parent  neglect 
ithe  child,  or  the  child  be  left  an  orphan,  then  will  that 
child  become  the  ward  of  a  relative,  friend,  or  of  society 
in  general. 

By  virtue  of  the  many  physical  laws  which  enter  into 
ithe  mysteries  of  reproduction  it  is  quite  evident  that  no 
two  persons   are  born  exactly   alike.     Recent   investiga- 
tions of  the  ductless  glands  have  clearly  demonstrated  that 
Ithe  secretions  from  these  bodies  very  materially  change 
'the  physical  and  mental  natures  of  many  persons.     To  a 
great  extent  the  nature  of  many  a  man  and  woman  is  de- 
termined by  a  greater  or  less  output  of  metabolic  sub- 
stances from  the  adrenals,  thyroid,  pituitary,  ovaries,  and 
;  testicles.     Their  influence  for  evil  may  be  greater  than 
ithe  forces  for  good  are  able  to  overcome.     This  knowledge 
enables  us  to  better  understand  the  "law  of  sin  in  our 
i  members,"  as  described  by  Paul.     "For  that  which  I  do 
1 1  allow  not:  for  what  I  would  that  do  I  not;  but  what  I 
hate,  that  do  I."     And  again,  "  Now  if  I  do  that  I  would 
not,  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  that  sin  dwelleth  in  me." 
Euripides  said,  "  I  know  that  what  I  am  about  to  do  is  evil, 
but  desire  is   stronger   than   deliberations."     "  All  vital 
actions  are  the  result  of  the  molecular  forces  of  the  proto- 
plasm which  displays  it." — Huxley.     It  is  high  time  that 
the  Church  recognized  man  as  an  individual ;  it  must  know 
that  individuals  do  not  respond  in  the  same  way  to  temp- 
tations or  to  means  of  salvation.     Disease  and  removal  of 


44  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

ductless  glands  do  occasionally  make  the  person  better  or 
worse  morally. 

There  is  no  greater  fallacy  taught  than  that  we  are 
born  equal.  Even  the  children  born  of  the  same  parents 
under  what  may  appear  to  be  exactly  similar  conditions 
are  different  in  many  ways.  One  may  become  intelligent 
and  a  good  citizen,  reflecting  the  virtue  of  worthy  parents 
in  his  every  action,  while  another  may  be  a  disgrace  to  the 
same  parents  all  the  days  of  his  existence.  Birth  plays  a 
great  part,  but  opportunity  plays  a  greater,  and  it  is 
this  factor,  that  of  our  social  laws  and  their  demands, 
that  must  awaken  the  interest  of  those  who  study  the 
questions  pertaining  to  the  uplift  of  mankind. 

After  much  careful  thought  and  research  in  history  I 
conclude  that  a  good  child  may  be  born  of  parents  rich  or 
poor;  but  the  same  study  shows  that  it  is  quite  difficult 
for  the  child  to  be  properly  trained  in  a  home  where  vice 
and  poverty  are  evident  or  in  a  home  where  all  is  luxury, 
in  which  latter  case  the  child  is  frequently  given  over  to 
a  nurse  girl,  governess,  and  fashionable  schools.  We  no- 
tice and  remember  the  cases  where  the  boy  has  been  born 
of  poor  parents  and  became  a  President  of  the  United 
States,  or  on  the  other  hand,  where  the  child  of  the  good 
clergyman  went  wrong.  We  do  not  consider  the  children 
of  the  average  parents  who  have  led  an  average  existence. 
Strange  to  say,  man  presents  little  to  attract  the  ob- 
server when  all  is  normal.  But  let  him  be  out  of  harmony 
in  any  sphere,  physical,  mental  or  moral,  and  he  becomes 
an  object  of  interest  and  investigation  from  many  sides. 

The  physician  is  frequently  asked :  "  Is  the  child  all 
right?"  If  a  child  be  born  malformed,  is  it  not  asked 


PARENT  AND  CHILD  45 

as  of  old:  "Who  sinned  that  the  child  is  born  thus?" 
,We  hear  the  expressions :  "  He  is  a  chip  of  the  old 
felock."  "  How  much  she  looks  like  her  mother."  "  Blood 
will  tell,"  and  many  others  of  a  similar  nature,  signifying 
that  the  child  is  like  the  parents  in  many  ways. 

The  child  of  a  Raphael  will  not  necessarily  become  a 
great  artist,  nor  is  the  son  of  a  thief  doomed  to  the  pen- 
iitentiary.  Do  not  blame  a  remote  ancestor  for  your  sins. 

Because  Mr.  A is  a  drunkard  it  does  not  follow  that 

jhe  inherited  it  from  his  intemperate  uncle. 

Jesse  James,  Jr.,  son  of  the  outlaw,  is  a  full-fledged 
ilawyer.  In  a  class  of  thirty-seven  applicants  for  license 
ito  practice  law,  he  stood  at  the  head.  His  father  was 
killed  when  the  boy  was  at  the  age  of  eight.  He  has  never 
'tasted  whiskey,  beer  or  tobacco. 

The  thirteen  children  of  Jonathan  Edwards  and  their 
!seventy-four  descendants  have  all  been  of  normal  upright 
(character,  except  Aaron  Burr.  For  the  cause  of  Burr's 
actions  some  go  back  to  his  grandmother,  who  had  shown 
'herself  to  be  an  extremely  clever  woman,  but  of  a  most 
jerratic  temperament.  No  wonder  many  people  are  in- 
;clined  to  reject  the  opinions  of  such  scientists. 

If,  as  Patton  asks,  children  inherited  all  their  charac- 
teristics from  their  parents,  would  they  have  to  be  taught? 
The  human  family,  like  animals,  do  inherit  many  instincts 
which  are  for  the  preservation  of  the  race.  The  ducklings 
incubated  under  a  hen  will  surely  take  to  water.  The 
bird  will  fly :  there  is  a  natural  tendency  to  seek  food  and 
safety.  The  illustration  mentioned  by  Burbank  on  the 
I  inheritance  of  these  instincts  by  the  baby  bear  picked  up 
'by  some  miners  within  a  few  days  after  its  birth  —  before 


46  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

its  eyes  had  opened,  is  well  to  the  point.  The  bear  be- 
came thoroughly  domesticated,  almost  as,  he  says,  an  old 
maid's  cat.  One  day,  when  mature,  the  bear  was  taken 
to  a  tiny  salmon  stream.  This  bear  had  never  fished  for 
salmon,  but  it  was  able  rapidly  to  scap  the  onrushing 
salmon  out  of  the  stream,  throwing  them  into  a  pile  on  the 
bank.  It  then  sorted  them  into  two  piles,  males  in  one 
pile,  and  the  females  in  the  other.  Then  with  its  sharp 
claw,  it  opened  the  female  salmon  and  extracted  the  roe, 
which  it  ate  with  a  relish.  This  consumed,  it  finished  its 
meal  on  the  other  meat  of  the  fish. 


LIFE  AND  REPRODUCTION 

IT  is  very  pertinent  in  studying  practical  problems 
dealing  with   the   various   manifestations    of   organic 
structures,   to   make   careful  inquiry   relative   to   life 
itself.     Highly   complex   organisms,   as    animals,   furnish 
questions  as   yet  unsolved.     Are  we   more   satisfactorily 
I  acquainted  with  the  life  and  death  of  the  tadpole  or  of  a 
•grain  of  wheat?     Explain  life,  its  origin,  its  continuity 
by  the  many  different  methods  of  reproduction,  and  finally 
!  tell  us  why  life   ceases   through  death   of  the   organism. 
Then,  and  then  only,  may  we  explain  the  various  phe- 
nomena giving  us  physical  characteristics  and  many  men- 
tal and  moral  attributes. 

In   order   that   we   may   intelligently   discuss   practical 
eugenics,  it  is  necessary  that  we  have  a  fairly  good  under- 
standing of  the  development  of  plants  and  animals ;  after 
j  which  we  can  make  a  comparative  study  of  these  and  of 
|  human  beings.     We  can  then  know  what  statements  in 
j  reference  to  inherited  characters  in  man  seem  unreason- 
able.    We  must  not  allow  sentiment  to  permit  us  to  accept 
|  and  teach  those   things  which   are   contrary   to   science. 
"  Man  is  a  man  for  a'  that."     We  cannot  yet  be  compared 
to   prize   chickens   and   thoroughbred   cattle.     There  are 
still  some  great  minds  being  carried  about  on  small  shoul- 
ders. 

The  laws  of  compensation  are  still  at  work.     The  stu- 
dent who  cannot  excel  in  athletics  may  still  have  a  greater 

47 


48  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

incentive  for  study,  and  the  boy  who  has  to  make  his  own 
way  in  the  world  may  be  a  little  more  industrious  than  his 
rich  cousin.  Some  one  has  said  that  the  world  could  not 
endure  the  intolerable  burden  of  a  continuous  line  of  great 
men.  We  could  not  even  endure  the  permanence  of  great 
men  of  genius.  "  Nature  kindly  uses  her  greatest  sons 
for  great  tasks,  and  then  dissolves  their  powers  in  the 
common  social  group,  in  order  to  make  securer  the  democ- 
racy of  life." 

In  the  animal  kingdom,  I  have  defined  life  as  the  corre- 
lation of  irritable  tissues.  Some  classic  definitions  are: 
"  Life  is  a  collection  of  phenomena  which  succeed  each 
other  during  a  limited  time  in  an  organized  body." 
"  Life  is  a  series  of  definite  and  successive  changes  which 
take  place  within  an  individual  without  destroying  its 
identity."  "  Life  is  the  continuous  adjustment  of  inter- 
nal to  external  relations."  A  pollen  of  grain,  acting 
through  the  pistil,  sends  its  nucleus  to  unite  with  the 
nucleus  of  the  ovule.  Life  results.  Whence  comes  the 
vital  principle?  Is  it  created  afresh  for  every  plant  and 
animal?  A  protophyte  or  a  protozoon,  having  reached 
a  certain  size,  undergoes  a  series  of  complex  changes, 
ending  in  fission:  One  has  disappeared,  two  have  come 
into  existence.  In  the  individual  state  it  has  the  vital 
principle.  What  is  life  in  the  divided  state? 

The  function  of  some  organs  is  carried  on  for  a  time 
after  removal  from  the  body.  The  liver,  if  kept  at  a 
proper  temperature,  and  supplied  with  blood,  will  secrete 
bile  for  a  time.  Likewise  will  many  other  organs  if  trans- 
planted or  even  removed  and  fed  with  blood,  perform  their 
function  for  indefinite  periods.  The  activity  depends 


LIFE  AND  REPRODUCTION  49 

largely  upon  the  integrity  of  the  cells  of  each  organ.  The 
heart  of  many  animals  under  certain  conditions  will  beat 
in  perfect  rhythm  for  quite  a  time  after  removal  from 
the  body.  The  cilia  of  the  air  passages  and  leucocytes 
still  retain  their  functions  for  many  days.  Again  we 
ask,  What  is  life?  The  answer  of  many  physiologists  at 
the  present  time  is,  "  Life  is  a  series  of  fermentations." 
Ferment  action  is  not  only  destructive,  but  constructive. 
Ferments  are  present  in  nearly  every  cell,  and  intimately 
concerned  in  all  manifestations  of  life. 

Organic  development  is  the  great  proposition  or  theory 
around  which  the  facts  and  phenomena  of  the  vegetable 
and  animal  kingdoms  gather  for  correlation  and  explana- 
tion. One  of  the  first  steps  toward  this  theory  is  the 
observed  unity  of  all  forms  of  life,  as  shown  by  the  facts 
that  plants  and  animals  have  about  the  same  chemical 
composition;  that  plant  and  animal  protoplasms  appear 
to  be  identical ;  that  the  germinal  vesicle  and  sexual  re- 
production are  similar  in  each ;  that  there  is  a  great  diffi- 
culty in  distinguishing  between  the  lower  forms  of  animals 
and  plants ;  that  plants  and  animals  are  cellular  in  struc- 
ture ;  that  plants  and  animals  as  individuals  develop  from 
a  bit  of  structureless  protoplasm  to  a  complicated  or- 
ganism, each  growing  by  the  single  multiplication  of  cells ; 
and  that  animals  and  plants  are  affected  in  much  the  same 
way  by  physical  environment.  Another  fact  is,  that  the 
offspring  inherit  some  of  the  characteristics  of  their  par- 
ents, but  not  all.  In  the  study  of  development  and  repro- 
duction of  living  things,  we  deal  with  two  different  classes 
of  organisms :  animal  and  vegetable  life.  In  the  classi- 
fication of  each  of  these  two  great  divisions,  we  find  at  the 


50  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

bottom  of  the  scale  of  life  certain  organisms  which  are 
said  by  the  botanist  to  belong  to  the  vegetable  world, 
while  the  zoologist  claims  them  for  his.  Animals  are 
born  with  recognizable  germ  cells,  but  plants  do  not  show 
these  until  somewhat  developed. 

The  ease  with  which  a  plant  may  be  reproduced  by  a 
cutting,  or  the  production  of  hybrids  by  grafting,  has 
been  a  great  stumbling  block  to  the  scientist  who  claims 
that  "  like  bears  like,"  and  to  the  pathologist  who  affirms 
that  an  epithelial  tumor  can  arise  only  from  epithelial 
tissue.  It  is  true  that  in  the  lower  forms  of  animal  life 
the  entire  organism  may  be  regenerated  from  a  single 
part,  thus  worrying  the  theorist,  who  claims  that  all  life 
is  reproduced  through  the  germ  cell.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  all  of  the  laws  which  apply  to  reproduction  and  de- 
velopment in  the  vegetable  world  will  not  apply  to  all  of 
the  laws  for  the  animal  world;  nor  as  far  as  it  has  yet 
been  demonstrated  will  all  of  the  laws  for  the  higher  forms 
of  animals  apply  to  man.  It  will  appear  that  man  is  fre- 
quently a  law  unto  himself.  This  applies  not  only  to 
man  as  a  class,  but  frequently  to  the  individual  man. 

Reproduction  occurs  in  the  animal  kingdom  in  two 
quite  different  ways,  sexually  and  asexually.  Asexual  re- 
production occurs  in  fission  and  gemmation.  In  fission 
the  organism  finally  divides  into  halves,  about  equal,  which 
grow  to  the  size  of  the  parent.  In  gemmation  only  a 
part  of  the  body  of  the  original  individual  develops  into 
a  new  animal.  Regeneration  is  the  power  of  replacing 
parts  of  the  body  which  have  been  lost  by  some  accident, 
etc.  Secondary  sexual  characteristics  are  the  distinction 
between  males  and  females,  such  as  size,  shape,  color,  etc. 


LIFE  AND  REPRODUCTION  51 

Ry  hybridization  is  meant  that  in  most  cases  it  is  possible 
for  ova  and  spermatozoa  of  nearly  allied  species  to  unite. 
Parthenogenesis  is  a  name  meaning  that  the  ovum  can  be 
developed  without  being  fertilized,  e.  g.5  those  of  insecta, 
crustaceans,  etc. 

Alternations  of  generations  show  that  some  animals 
produce  both  sexually  and  asexually.  The  asexual  ani- 
mals produce  by  gemmation  or  fission  sexual  individuals 
whose  fertilized  ova  again  become  sexual  animals ;  or  two 
or  more  asexual  generations  are  followed  by  a  sexual 
brood,  these  again  by  more  asexual  generations.  Heter- 
ogeny  embraces  all  cases  of  regular  alternations  between 
sexual  generations,  whether  these  differ  in  appearance  or 
in  their  mode  of  propagation. 

Atavism  is  the  peculiarity  seen  in  some  animals,  in- 
cluding the  human,  when  the  characteristics  of  the  off- 
spring are  not  like  those  of  the  parents,  but  like  those  of 
the  grandparents  or  remote  ancestors.  Ontogeny  is  the 
study  of  animals  as  individuals.  Phylogony  is  the  study 
of  animals  as  a  class. 

The  law  of  Riogenesis  states  that  each  living  being 
arises  from  another  living  being,  that  there  is  no  life 
without  preexisting  life,  while  spontaneous  life  cannot 
occur.  Each  new  egg  begins  life  as  a  single  cell  or  egg. 
The  egg  does  not  contain  any  pre-formed  structures  that 
it  hands  down  unaltered,  but  is  so  constructed  that  the 
same  kind  of  structure  is  produced. 

The  cells  of  organisms  are  constantly  dying  and  must 
be  replaced.  In  some  tissues  the  processes  are  evident; 
probably  no  repair  takes  place  in  the  highly  organized 
tissue.  The  skin  has  every  stage  of  cell  life.  The  epi- 


52  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

dermis  is  constantly  being  replaced  from  lower  layers. 
Some  structures  increase  in  size  by  the  formation  of  new 
fibers,  and  enlargements  of  old  and  new.  Muscles  gen- 
erally repair  by  new  connective  tissue.  Nerve  cells  may 
be,  but  rarely  are,  newly  formed.  The  lower  the  form 
of  the  animal,  the  easier  it  is  to  make  good  a  loss  and  to 
reproduce.  The  deeper  layers  of  cells  in  the  skin  can 
reproduce  only  similar  cells. 

A  root  or  leaf  of  some  plant  may  give  rise  to  an  entirely 
new  plant.  In  higher  animals  reproduction  is  sexual,  and 
sexes  are  separate.  The  fertilized  ovum  has  the  power  to 
reproduce  other  ova,  also  every  body  tissue  found  in  the 
adult.  Direct  contact  of  the  male  germ  with  the  ovum 
produces  fecundation.  The  ovum  is  formed  and  dis- 
charged from  the  ovaries. 

Somatic  cells  are  differentiated  into  tissues  and  form 
the  body,  giving  life  to  the  body.  Germ  cells  have  minor 
significance  for  life;  they  are  for  reproduction.  Somatic 
and  germ  cells  have  no  resemblance  when  matured.  The 
cells  from  each  group  have  a  common  origin  in  the  parent. 
Both  may  have  the  same  power  of  development.  The 
distinction  between  somatic  and  germ  cells  is  an  expres- 
sion of  the  physiological  division  of  labor.  The  differentia- 
tion is  very  clear  in  multicellular  life,  as  the  volvox.  In 
higher  life,  the  somatic  cells  surround  and  nourish  the 
germ  cells,  this  being  their  special  function,  and  form  dis- 
tinct sexual  organs.  In  the  early  embryonic  life  the  germ 
cells  appear  to  be  the  same  in  both  sexes. 

Until  quite  recently,  most  people  believed  that  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars,  the  earth  with  all  its  varied  forms  of  life 
and  all  material  were  created  out  of  nothing.  A  careful 


LIFE  AND  REPRODUCTION  53 

study  of  the  phenomena  of  life  has  led  many  students  of 
botany,  zoology  and  geology  to  the  conclusion  that  special 
creation  was  not  God's  method  in  nature,  but  that  some 
form  of  evolution  or  development  was  probably  the  method 
employed.  "  This  is  a  beautiful  view  of  life  breathed  by 
the  Creator  into  few  forms,  probably  into  only  one.  Beau- 
tiful and  wonderful  forms  have  been  and  are  being  evolved 
from  this  simple  beginning." — Darwin. 

Death  is  a  cessation  of  life.  According  to  the  theory 
of  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest,"  it  is  due  to  the  death  of 
the  individual  that  the  race  is  made  better,  and  that  the 
population  is  not  multiplied  too  rapidly.  Weismann 
stated  that  the  length  of  life  of  individuals  of  a  species 
has  been  regulated  by  the  natural  selection  of  the  individ- 
ual variations. 

The  length  of  life  is  really  dependent  upon  adaptations 
to  external  conditions  and  is  governed  by  the  needs  of 
the  species.  The  length  of  life  is  not  determined  by  the 
constitution  of  the  animal,  for  a  queen  bee  may  live  for 
several  years  and  the  male  for  only  a  few  weeks.  Long 
life  is  hereditary. 

Evolution  is  the  becoming  visible  of  preexisting  details 
of  shapes.  As  before  stated,  the  structure  of  both  animal 
and  vegetable  organisms  is  divided  into  two  forms  of  cells : 
the  somatic  or  body  cells  and  the  germ  or  reproductive 
cells.  In  1875  Herwig  demonstrated  that  the  egg  and 
sperm  acting  together  cause  fertilization.  The  interpreta- 
tion of  cleavage  as  a  process  of  cell  division  was  followed 
by  a  demonstration  that  cell  division  does  not  begin  with 
cleavage,  but  can  be  traced  back  into  the  foregoing  gen- 
erations, for  the  egg  cell  as  well  as  the  sperm  cell  arises 


54  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

from  the  division  of  a  cell  preexisting  in  the  parent  body. 
It  is  therefore  derived  by  direct  descent  from  the  egg  cell 
of  the  foregoing  generation,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum.  No 
doubt  the  effect  of  the  somatic  cells  upon  the  ova  will 
always  be  a  mystery. 

It  is  quite  apparent  that  as  far  as  the  male  germ  cell 
is  concerned,  all  the  characters  inherited  by  the  child  from 
this  parent  must  be  contained  in  the  germ  cell,  but  it  is 
not  apparent  that  this  cell  was  entirely  independent  of 
the  somatic  cells  during  its  development.  It  is  not  con- 
ceded by  all  biologists  that  the  ovum  contains  all  the  char- 
acteristics at  the  time  of  its  maturation  for  the  part  fur- 
nished in  transmission  from  the  female  parent.  In  the 
ovipara  objections  cannot  be  made  for  reasons  quite  ap- 
parent. On  the  one  hand  then,  it  is  claimed  that  the 
ovum  contains  all  the  characteristics  it  conveys  when  the 
parent  is  born.  On  the  other,  it  is  claimed  that  the  germ 
cell  or  ovum  can  be  affected  by  conditions  of  the  mother, 
from  the  time  of  birth  until  the  birth  of  each  respective 
child,  thus  transmitting  many  acquired  characters,  dis- 
eases, etc.  How  can  the  increased  dexterity  and  power  in 
the  hand  of  the  well-trained  piano  player  so  affect  the 
molecular  structure  of  the  germ  cells  as  to  produce  a  cor- 
responding development  in  the  hand  of  the  child?  It 
would  appear  that  the  child  inherits  from  the  germ  cell, 
not  from  the  parent  body.  Consequently  the  germ  cell 
owes  its  characteristics  not  to  the  body  which  bears  it, 
but  to  its  descent  from  a  preexisting  germ  cell  of  the  same 
kind. 

It  is  believed  by  some  that  the  age  of  the  parent  has 
much  to  do  with  the  determination  of  certain  qualities  in 


LIFE  AND  REPRODUCTION  55 

the  progeny.  According  to  which  idea,  a  male  child  of 
a  father  in  the  prime  of  life,  with  a  well  developed  and 
muscular  body,  will  become  a  stronger  man  than  a  brother 
born  when  the  father  was  in  the  development  period  under 
30  or  during  his  decline.  In  a  similar  way  they  would 
explain  mental  qualities  as  well  as  the  likes  or  dislikes 
for  certain  arts  or  sciences.  Personally  I  do  not  .think 
the  germ  cells  are  as  much  influenced  by  the  age  and 
mental  and  physical  development  of  the  parent  body  as 
is  claimed  by  the  advocates  of  this  theory.  Robinovitch 
states : 

"  (1)  Most  great  men  were  not  born  of  youthful 
parents;  (2)  the  majority  were  not  the  first  offspring; 
(3)  the  majority  of  great  men  were  the  youngest  chil- 
dren." 

Let  me  ask  what  would  be  the  physical  condition  of  an 
adult  woman  whose  parents,  grandparents  for  six  genera- 
tions, had  married  at  from  sixteen  to  eighteen  years  of  age 
and  had  borne  children  at  an  early  age?  Would  this 
woman  at  thirty  years  of  age  have  a  fully  developed  body  ? 
Would  she  have  cut  all  her  wisdom  teeth?  Would  her 
hair  be  a  proper  length ;  in  short,  would  she  be  a  normal 
woman  of  her  age? 

In  a  recent  Galton  Eugenics  Memoir,  by  David  Heron, 
D.Sc.,  he  says :  "  The  conclusion  was  reached  that  home 
environment,  as  measured  by  clothing,  cleanliness,  nutri- 
tion, stature,  and  weight  could  not  be  the  chief  deter- 
mining cause  of  the  differentiation  of  intelligence;  nor 
was  defective  physique  its  source.  Other  factors  of  en- 
vironment have  yet  to  be  discussed,  but  so  far  —  and  this 
generalization  covers  much  more  than  the  400  coefficients 


56  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

calculated  in  the  memoir  disclose  —  there  is  no  sign  of 
environmental  condition  producing  an  effect  on  the  men- 
tality of  the  child  at  all  comparable  with  the  known  in- 
fluence of  heredity." 


VARIATIONS 

IN  order  that  we  may  understand  the  practical  lessons 
to  be  learned  from  a  study  of  successive  generations 
of  any  form  of  life,  particularly  the  human,  it  is 
necessary  to  notice  briefly  the  present  accepted  explana- 
tions of  the  factors  and  laws  of  evolution.  The  factors 
in  evolution  for  plants  and  animals  are:  Variations, 
heredity,  segregation  and  selection.  To  these  four,  we 
might  add  environment.  Another  very  important  force, 
affecting  plant  life  and  to  a  lesser  degree  animals  and 
human  individuals,  is  that  of  "  tropisms."  By  tropisms 
we  mean  those  reactions  which  organic  matter  shows  when 
acted  upon  by  heat,  light,  electricity,  gravitation,  etc. 
Who  does  not  know  the  effect  of  these  forces  on  plant 
life?  A  little  thought  makes  positive  the  effect  of  heat, 
cold,  darkness,  altitude,  humidity,  etc.,  upon  man  also. 
In  a  discussion  of  variations  we  are  confronted  by  two 
questions :  What  is  a  variation  ?  and  what  is  meant  by 
"  species  "?  Darwin  arbitrarily  conceived  that  when  cer- 
tain germs  of  animals  showed  differences  sufficient,  they 
were  divided  into  species,  these  again  differing  were  classed 
as  variations,  which  in  turn  were  subdivided  finally  into 
the  respective  individuals. 

In  many  writings,  we  see  the  terms  "  variation  "  and 
"  modification  "  used,  apparently  implying  any  change  in 
the  individual  during  its  life.  On  the  other  hand,  as  used 
by  the  majority,  variations  refer  to  an  accident,  etc.,  but 
are  dependent  upon  natural  selection,  environment,  etc., 

57 


58  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

which  alterations  are  transmitted  to  the  next  generation. 
In  this  class  we  can  place  the  changes  brought  forth  by 
DeVries  in  the  "  Evening  Primrose,"  by  Burbank  in  his 
work  on  many  flowers,  and  by  the  altered  "  strains  "  in 
the  breeding  of  animals  and  growing  fruits.  Modifica- 
tions are  those  acquired  changes  due  to  the  use  of  a  part, 
as  thickening  of  the  skin  on  the  soles  of  feet,  enlargement 
of  the  biceps,  etc.  These  characters  are  not  transmitted. 

The  scientist  is  led  to  believe  that  in  the  process  of 
development  most  of  the  structures  of  the  body  are  as 
they  now  exist,  in  order  that  the  individual  may  be  the 
better  able  to  subsist,  protect  itself  from  its  enemies  and 
propagate  its  kind.  In  our  own  body,  what  many  call  com- 
pensations, are  in  fact  "  adaptations  "  for  the  protection 
of  the  body.  Immunity  to  disease  is  gradually  acquired 
from  a  series  of  adaptations  to  small  doses  of  poisons. 

It  is  a  fixed  law  that  in  order  to  avoid  confusion,  every 
living  thing,  whether  it  be  plant  or  animal,  shall  produce 
offspring  after  its  own  kind,  thus  establishing  the  law  of 
heredity.  Like  begets  like  under  like  circumstances. 
While  no  one,  from  the  scientist  down  to  the  most  ignorant 
casualist,  denies  the  matter  of  heredity,  we  expect  off- 
spring to  be  much  like  their  ancestors,  yet  many  biologists, 
as  well  as  psychologists,  have  devised  different  and  an- 
tagonistic theories  to  account  for  heredity  and  its  cor- 
relative factor,  environment. 

Prine  A.  Morrow  said,  "  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  an  alco- 
holic heritage  is  scarcely  more  likely  to  come  from  an  habit- 
ual drunkard  than  from  an  abstainer  who  may  be  intoxi- 
cated at  the  moment  of  procreation  for  the  first  time  in  his 
life.  In  twenty-three  families  in  which  I  have  found  among 


VARIATIONS  59 

children  in  good  conditions,  the  existence  of  a  degenerate, 
as  infirm,  or  an  idiot,  twenty-two  times  I  have  been  able 
to  determine  and  make  known  to  parents  that  one  of  the 
two  was  at  the  moment  of  procreation,  either  sick  or  con- 
valescent. I  am  firmly  convinced  that  every  pathological 
state  and  mental  depression  of  the  generators,  one  or 
both,  has  a  manifest  influence  upon  the  product  of  con- 
ception and  its  future  development." 

To  a  careful  unbiased  critic,  it  is  evident  that,  in  ap- 
proaching these  very  dark  mysterious  problems,  each  in- 
vestigator endeavors  to  work  along  certain  preconceived 
lines,  and  consequently  attempts  to  make  every  result 
conform  to  his  prejudicial  ideas.  Quite  often  the  student 
along  any  line  becomes  so  enthusiastic  over  his  own  reason- 
ing and  observations  that  he  is  in  a  condition  similar  to 
a  person  with  aphasia.  The  circle  of  reception,  reflec- 
tion, memory  and  action  is  broken.  The  impulse  has  been 
so  intense  that  at  some  part  of  the  circuit  of  reasoning 
there  is  a  block,  and  the  student  is  called  a  "  crank." 

The  investigators  who  were  the  first  to  produce  anything 
like  satisfactory  evidence  in  demonstrating  beyond  theory 
certain  laws  of  applied  evolution,  I  refer  to  Darwin, 
Wallace,  Lamarck,  etc.,  have  been  and  are  still  being 
severely  censured  for  many  theories  which  they  did  not 
proclaim.  Much  of  the  most  recent  knowledge  along 
these  lines  could  never  have  been  obtained  but  for  the 
work  of  these  pioneers  of  this  science. 

Furthermore,  much  of  the  controversy  between  present 
day  investigators  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  appears  im- 
possible for  one  to  interpret  the  views  held  by  another. 
A  writer  in  Science  required  eight  pages  to  explain  how 


60  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

a  certain  scientist  did  not  understand  the  term  "  Muta- 
tion "  in  an  address  he  had  made  before  the  American 
Zoological  Society.  Read  if  you  will  the  criticisms  of 
Darwin:  how  one  will  state  that  Darwin  was  a  firm  be- 
liever in  inheritance  of  acquired  characters,  another  says 
he  did  not  believe  they  are  transmitted,  and  another  knows 
that  later  in  life  he  changed  his  views. 

Man  to-day  is,  as  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  very  like 
Adam.  The  animals  which  he  had  with  him  in  the  Garden 
of  Eden  ate  the  same  way,  walked  the  same,  reproduced 
their  young  as  do  those  of  the  present  time.  The  anthro- 
pologist, paleontologist  and  geologist  tell  us  that  Adam 
lived  but  a  few  years  compared  with  the  time  since  the 
first  beast  trod  the  earth.  Millions  of  years  ago  animals 
walked  upright,  and  were  so  large  that  they  were  able  to 
pluck  the  fruit  from  the  trees.  After  serving  their  time 
they  laid  down  and  died,  their  fossils  to  be  buried  in  the 
different  formations  of  later  years. 

These  facts,  I  neither  try  nor  desire  to  deny ;  suffice  to 
say  that  if  our  idea  of  variations  is  correct,  in  the  very 
few  generations  from  our  first  parent  until  to-day,  how 
very  complex  must  our  nature  be  if  any  of  these  altera- 
tions are  transmitted  from  father  to  son! 

Strictly  speaking,  inheritance  is  the  transmission  to  the 
child  of  characteristics  and  conditions  present  in  either 
one  or  both  parents  and  also  in  the  germ  cell  or  cells  when 
the  new  individual  begins  its  existence.  Any  influence 
modifying  it  after  this  moment  is  something  acquired  by 
an  "  already  entity,"  it  is  not  inherited.  "  Heredity  has 
actually  more  power  over  our  mental  constitution  and 
character  than  all  external  influences,  physical  or  moral." 


THEORIES  OF  INHERITANCE 

IT  is  told  that  an  impertinent  man  made  inquiry  into 
the   ancestry   of   the   great   Dumas.     A   conversation 
somewhat    as    follows    took    place:     "I    understand, 
Mr.  Dumas,  that  your  father  was  a  mulatto?"     "Yes." 
"  And  what  was  your  grandfather?  "     "  He  was  a  negro." 
"  What  was  his  ancestry?  "  continued  the  impertinent  man. 
"  He  was   an  ape,"   replied  Dumas.     "  You  see  my   an- 
cestors began  where  yours  end." 

Francis  Galton  in  1889  was  the  first  to  recognize  that 
in  the  case  of  certain  characters  the  results  of  inheritance 
is  a  blend  of  the  conditions  found  in  the  parents,  while  in 
other  characters  inheritance  is  ultimately  between  the  con- 
ditions found  in  the  parents.  It  has  been  thought  until 
recently  that  hereditary  processes  in  general  were  of  this 
sort  and  that  any  results  other  than  a  blend  were  excep- 
tional. It  will  be  very  helpful  for  those  who  desire  to 
study  the  various  social  factors  in  their  influence  upon 
future  generations  to  consider  in  a  brief  way  some  of  the 
explanations  by  which  the  germ  plasm,  the  male  and  female 
germs  cells,  and  the  body  which  develops  and  nourishes 
these  cells,  may  be  affected. 

What  value  is  it  for  us  to  understand  how  two  human 
germ  cells,  so  small  that  we  must  use  a  microscope  to 
observe  them,  by  as  yet  unexplainable  physical  and  bio- 
chemical forces,  become  a  man  or  woman  endowed  with 
will,  feeling,  strength  and  a  spiritual  soul,  to  be  punished 
in  the  present  and  future  life  because  the  body  which 

61 


62  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

developed  from  these  two  minute  particles  of  protoplasm 
has  not  at  all  times  behaved  in  a  seemly  way? 

To  the  eugenist  these  thoughts  are  serious  by  reason 
of  the  fact  that  these  little  germ  cells  carry  in  them  the 
characteristics  of  ancestors  to  progeny  from  generation 
to  generation.  These  cells  may  or  may  not  have  been 
affected  by  certain  evil  deeds  of  a  grandfather  or  some 
illness  of  a  grandmother.  If  they  were,  then  you  and  I 
have  to  compete  in  life  with  others  who  do  not  have  this 
terrible  handicap  thrust  upon  them. 

We  say  that  "  like  bears  like  "  under  like  circumstances. 
Either  certain  diseases  of  the  parents,  the  effects  of  al- 
cohol, fatigue,  etc.,  are  manifested  in  the  germ  cells  or 
they  are  not.  Either  the  physical  conditions  acquired  by 
the  parents  are  handed  down  to  their  children  or  they  are 
not.  There  is  no  guess  work,  no  half  way  of  doing  things 
in  nature.  Some  one  has  well  said  that  the  supernatural 
is  the  not  knowable  yet.  Mystery  is  too  often  ignorance. 
A  very  little  thought  makes  clear  our  duty.  Society  de- 
mands to  preserve  the  health  of  its  individual  members,  to 
diminish  the  enormous  cost  of  keeping  alive  the  defectives 
and  undesirables  and  to  protect  present  and  future  gen- 
erations from  these  unfortunates.  If  our  ancestors  have 
handed  us  certain  good  or  bad  heritages,  physical,  mental 
or  moral,  then  we  can  in  like  manner  transmit  desirable 
or  undesirable  conditions  to  our  children. 

For  the  above  reasons,  for  a  practical  consideration, 
we  may  divide  the  theories  of  evolution  and  development 
into  four  great  classes:  (1)  Those  in  which  our  char- 
acters are  transmitted  from  parent  to  offspring  un- 
changed—  strict  Weismann  theory;  (&)  those  in  which 


THEORIES  OF  INHERITANCE  63 

the  characters  acquired  by  a  parent  can  be  transmitted 
to  the  offspring  —  strict  Lamarcldan  theory;  (3)  those 
in  which  characters  may  suddenly  appear,  these  to  be 
transmitted  to  next  generation  —  theory  of  De  Vries ; 
(4)  those  in  which  certain  characters  are  dominant  and 
others  are  recessive ;  we  can  determine  quite  accurately 
these  characters  in  the  offspring  —  theory  of  Mendel. 

Weismann  asserts  continuity  not  only  for  the  sexual 
cells,  but  for  the  germinal  protoplasm,  which  he  believes 
to  pass  along  definite  cell  tracts,  until  it  formed  sexual 
cells.  He  states  that  the  substance,  which  is  a  bearer 
of  hereditary  characters  of  species  (the  idioplasm  of 
Naegele)  lies  not  in  the  protoplasm  of  the  germ  cells,  but 
in  their  nuclear  matter.  This  he  calls  the  germ  plasm. 
A  rational  interpretation  of  this  theory  in  its  strict  sense 
would  be  that  the  protoplasm  which  produces  and  nour- 
ishes the  germ  cell  would  be  affected  by  alcohol,  disease, 
etc. 

The  Lamarckian  theory  is  that  of  inheritance  of  ac- 
quired characters.  In  explanation  of  the  theory  we  note 
that  the  use  of  a  part  leads  to  an  increase  of  size,  and 
disuse  the  opposite.  Lamarck  maintained  that  the  desire 
to  use  a  particular  organ  to  fulfill  some  want  led  to  its 
better  development  through  exercise  and  that  the  result 
was  inherited ;  not  as  has  been  stated  of  him  that  the  de- 
sire of  the  animal  for  the  particular  part  had  led  to  a 
development  of  that  part.  He  concluded  that  the  appear- 
ance of  stability  is  always  mistaken  by  the  layman  for  the 
reality,  because  in  general  every  one  judges  things  rela- 
tive to  himself.  The  work  of  elimination  of  useless  eyes 
of  blind  fish  has  been  going  on  for  hundreds  of  generations, 


64  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

yet  still  incomplete  rudiments  appear.  The  teeth  of  some 
animals,  which  were  formerly  used  for  defense,  are  now 
used  for  mastication.  In  opposition  to  this  theory  we  know 
that  Brown-Sequard  cut  off  the  tails  of  mice  soon  after 
their  birth  for  generations,  and  they  were  still  born  with 
tails.  Circumcision  has  been  practised  by  the  Jews  for 
thousands  of  years  and  must  still  continue  to  be.  The 
feet  of  Chinese  girls  were  tightly  squeezed  to  allow  the 
adult  woman  to  wear  a  number  two  shoe,  but  since  they 
are  allowed  to  go  unbound  they  become  as  large  as  those 
of  the  American  woman. 

By  the  theory  of  DeVries  we  learn  that  occasionally 
for  reasons  not  satisfactorily  explained  a  plant  or  animal 
may  show  a  structure  so  different  from  others  of  its  kind 
that  it  appears  to  be  an  entirely  different  structure.  This 
is  often  termed  a  "  sport  "  or  a  mutation.  When  these 
extreme  varieties  are  bred  and  cultivated  under  the  best 
possible  conditions  the  result  is  that  many  scientists  state 
they  have  developed  a  new  species.  It  is  by  the  selection 
of  the  best  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest  that  many  ex- 
plain the  theory  of  evolution  whereby  we  can  trace  back 
our  ancestry  to  the  lowest  forms  of  life.  It  is  by  the 
selection  of  a  few  and  casting  aside  the  many  thousands 
that  Burbank  has  succeeded  in  producing  such  wonderful 
results  in  crossing  various  plants.  And  yet  it  is  said  that 
he  has  not  produced  a  new  species. 

The  law  of  Mendel  is  one  which  requires  special  atten- 
tion for  the  reason  that  many  scientific  breeders  are  mak- 
ing successful  application  of  this  law  in  improving  plants 
and  animals.  This  application  is  worth  millions  of  dol- 
lars annually  in  the  production  of  new  and  better  kinds 


THEORIES  OF  INHERITANCE  65 

of  flowers,  fruit,  vegetables,  animals,  etc.  And  some 
eugenists  have  gone  so  far  as  to  say  that  we  should  apply 
this  law  to  man.  It  has  been  known  for  many  years  that 
the  characters  of  the  parents  could  be  split  up  and  re- 
distributed in  the  offspring  of  hybrids. 

By  this  we  understand  that  two  or  more  descriptive 
points  of  the  animal  as  color,  texture  and  coarseness  of 
the  hair,  may  be  so  combined  in  the  germ  cell  of  the  parent 
as  to  be  called  a  unit  character  and  in  a  pure  breed  these 
points  are  transmitted  as  one  unit.  Now,  by  Mendel's 
law  the  parts  in  the  unit  are  split  up  and  redistributed, 
making  the  unit  character  of  inheritance  different.  The 
application  of  the  law  requires  that  the  two  parents  pos- 
sess certain  characters  which  are  opposed  to  each  other, 
and  which  when  crossed  form  what  may  be  termed  a  char- 
acter pair.  It  is  also  important  that  the  germ  cell  be 
pure  as  to  unit  characters.  When  such  conditions  exist 
in  the  parent  there  is  then  a  certain  fixed  law  of  proba- 
bility of  unit  characters  appearing  in  the  offspring,  which 
are  so  definite  that  the  scientist  can  determine  mathe- 
matically as  to  the  characters  of  the  succeeding  genera- 
tions. 

Mendel  found  that  in  cross  breeding  between  alternative 
characters,  one  uniformly  dominates  in  the  offspring  from 
its  very  nature,  while  the  other  disappears.  Mendel 
called  the  characters  seen  in  the  offspring  Dominant,  the 
unseen  ones  he  called  Recessive.  The  coat  characters  seen 
in  the  offspring,  color,  length  and  texture,  are  the  three 
dominant  characters,  two  of  which  were  received  from  one 
parent,  one  from  the  other;  the  three  alternate  recessive 
characters  are  present  but  unseen. 


66  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

When  pure  bred  black  guinea  pigs  are  mated  with  red 
ones,  only  black  offspring  are  as  a  rule  obtained.  The 
hairs  of  the  offspring  do  indeed  contain  some  red  pig- 
ment, but  the  black  pigment  is  so  much  darker  that  it 
largely  obscures  the  red.  In  other  words,  black  behaves 
as  an  ordinary  Mendelian  dominant.  In  the  next  genera- 
tion black  and  red  segregate  in  ordinary  Mendelian  fashion 
and  the  young  produced  are  in  the  usual  proportions, 
three  black  and  one  red. 

These  experiments  illustrate,  says  Castle,  two  impor- 
tant principles  in  heredity :  First,  if  as  regards  the  hair 
alone  there  exists  such  a  variety  of  characters  separately 
heritable,  how  great  must  be  the  number  of  characters  in 
the  body  as  a  whole,  and  remotely  probable  that  any  ani- 
mal will  in  all  characters  resemble  any  individual  ancestor ; 
secondly,  the  experiment  shows  that  a  variety  of  new  or- 
ganic forms  may  be  quickly  reproduced  by  cross-breeding, 
leading  to  the  combination  in  one  race  of  characters  previ- 
ously found  separately  in  different  races. 

Bateson  states  that  we  will  soon  be  able  to  produce  a 
hybrid  with  the  same  accuracy  as  the  chemist  does  a  com- 
pound. In  the  second  and  later  generations  of  a  hybrid 
every  possible  combination  of  the  parent  characters  occur, 
and  each  combination  appears  in  a  definite  proportion  of 
the  individuals.  Another  example:  When  a  pure  polled 
bull  (one  incapable  of  transmitting  the  horn  characters) 
is  bred  to  horned  cows,  all  the  calves  will  be  polled  (horn- 
less) hybrids.  Some,  possibly  all,  of  these  will  have  im- 
perfect horns,  which  may  be  large  or  small  as  a  pea,  but 
their  presence  is  a  sure  sign  that  the  animal  is  a  hybrid 
and  not  a  pure  poll.  The  polled  character  is  a  Mendelian 


THEORIES  OF  INHERITANCE  67 

unit  character. 

As  to  what  are  and  what  are  not  character  units  in  the 
Mendelian  sense  of  transmissibility  in  the  human  family 
has  not  been  determined.  There  is  no  doubt  that  it  might 
be  fairly  well  determined  for  physical  characters  if  we 
were  predisposed  to  select  men  and  women  for  marriage 
with  a  view  to  the  unit  characters  of  their  children  which 
we  know  could  be  transmitted.  Davenport  states  that 
very  .many  characters,  good  and  bad,  are  Mendelian  in  in- 
heritance, viz. :  Stature,  weight,  facial  expression,  color 
of  hair,  general  mental  ability,  special  aptitude  for  music, 
art,  mechanics,  moral  sense,  temperament,  etc. 

We  know  that  children  do  not  develop  hair  darker  than 
the  darker  parent,  i.e.,  dark-haired  children  arc  probably 
never  bred  from  flaxen-haired  parents.  Red-haired 
parents  beget  red-haired  children ;  red-haired  children  may 
come  from  glossy  black  hair,  the  gloss  of  which  being  de- 
pendent upon  the  presence  of  red  pigment.  Light  brown 
bred  to  light  brown  yields  tow,  yellow,  golden  or  red  hair, 
But  if  we  knew  just  exactly  what  would  be  the  color  of 
the  hair,  eyes,  stature,  weight,  etc.,  of  our  children  it 
would  not  change  the  minds  of  those  who  apply  for  mar- 
riage licenses  in  the  least. 

In  concluding  the  subject  of  evolution  and  reproduc- 
tion, let  us  look  at  a  few  of  the  many  scientific  explana- 
tions. As  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  Law  of 
Biogenesis  states  that  each  living  being  arises  from  another 
living  thing,  that  there  is  no  life  without  preexisting  life, 
while  spontaneous  life  cannot  occur.  Each  new  egg  be- 
gins life  as  a  single  cell  or  egg.  The  egg  does  not  contain 
any  pre-formed  structures  that  it  hands  down  unaltered, 


68  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

but  is  so  constructed  that  the  same  kind  of  structure  is 
again  produced.  Should  something  affect  the  egg,  we  can 
imagine  it  might  form  a  new  combination  on  the  same  plan 
as  the  old,  yet  one  that  differed  from  the  original  in  every 
detail  of  structure.  This  idea  lies  at  the  base  of  the  trans- 
mutation theory. 

DeVries  suggests  by  Darwin's  doctrine  of  pangenesis 
that  gemmules  are  small  particles » endowed  with  the  power 
of  division,  and  are  the  material  bearers  of  hereditary 
characters.  In  this  he  distinguishes  simple  and  complex 
components  of  higher  and  lower  order.  To  the  smallest 
material  units  belong  fundamental  qualities  of  life,  as- 
similation, metabolism  and  reproduction  by  division.  The 
next  higher  units  are  composed  of  groups  of  the  smallest. 
The  germ  plasm  must  possess  as  many  of  these  as  there 
are  in  the  organism,  cells  or  group  of  cells,  independently 
variable  in  the  germ  or  later  stages.  A  third  group  is  a 
community  of  the  second ;  these  must  be  able  to  grow  and 
multiply.  A  single  large  group  would  suffice  for  the  con- 
duct of  a  single  life  history.  The  second  classes  are  so 
grouped  that  in  the  highest  they  are  liberated  and  become 
active  when  the  time  comes  for  development  of  that  part 
of  the  body  which  they  control.  The  highest  groups  are 
supposed  to  contain  the  inherited  material  for  a  complete 
new  organism.  It  is  suggested  that  they  are  tiny  beads 
in  the  chromosomes. 

On  the  theory  of  descent  all  ancestors  are  supposed  to 
have  lived  at  some  time  in  the  past  or  present  on  the  earth. 
If  their  remains  should  be  preserved,  we  expect  to  find  at 
least  some  of  these  remains  to  be  like  the  present  forms, 
while  on  the  transmutation  theory,  we  should  expect  to 


THEORIES  OF  INHERITANCE  69 

find  most  if  not  all  of  the  ancestral  forms  to  be  different 
from  the  present  ones. 

Within  the  period  of  human  history  we  do  not  know 
of  a  single  instance  of  the  transformation  of  one  species 
into  another  one,  if  we  apply  the  rigid  tests  to  distinguish 
wild  species  from  each  other.  The  evidence  suggested 
itself  to  our  early  writers  that  the  embryos  of  the  higher 
forms  passed  through  the  adult  stages  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals. The  first  writers  of  this  theory  found  that  the  tad- 
pole resembled  an  adult  fish.  It  was  stated  as  early  as 
1808  that  the  human  fetus  passes  through  its  meta- 
morphosis in  its  development  in  such  a  way  that  it  re- 
peats all  classes  of  animals,  but  remaining  permanently 
in  none,  develops  into  more  and  more  the  innate  human 
form.  The  gill  slits  of  the  chick  in  embryo  are  not  to 
be  compared  with  the  adult  fish  but  with  those  of  the  em- 
bryo of  the  fish.  It  is  significant  that  the  gill  slits  appear 
as  early  in  the  embryo  of  the  fish  as  they  do  in  the  bird. 

According  to  Darwin's  principle  of  selection,  when  two 
germ  cells  form  units,  we  do  not  find  that  the  young 
show  all  the  characters  of  the  mother,  plus  those  of  the 
father  —  i.e.,  each  peculiarity  that  is  the  same  in  both 
increased  twofold ;  on  the  contrary,  the  young  is  in  a  vast 
majority  of  cases  not  essentially  different  from  either 
parent.  Darwin  thought  that  a  large  amount  of  the 
variation  shown  by  domesticated  animals  and  plants  is 
due  in  the  first  place  to  new  conditions  of  life,  and  also  to 
the  lack  of  uniformity  of  these  conditions.  No  case  is  on 
record  of  a  variable  organism  ceasing  to  vary  under  cul- 
tivation. Monstrosities  cannot  be  separated  by  any  dis- 
tinct line  from  slighter  variations.  He  also  thought  that 


70  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

the  amount  of  use  or  disuse  of  a  part  had  much  to  do  with 
the  variations,  these  being  inherited,  and  generally  known 
as  the  Lamarckian  factor  of  heredity.  Darwin  thought 
that  the  changes  in  the  body  due  to  the  disuse  of  a  part 
could  be  transmitted  to  descendants. 


DETERMINATION  OF  SEX 

THERE  is  probably  no  one  question  so  frequently 
asked  the  physician  and  to  which  the  answer  is 
always  "  no,"  as,  "  Can  we  determine  before  the 
birth  of  the  child  whether  it  will  be  a  boy  or  girl?" 
Much  has  been  written  on  this  subject  in  the  last  few  years. 
Investigators  have  written  books  telling  the  mother  how 
we  may  have  boys  or  girls.  Kings  have  paid  handsome 
sums  to  scientists  for  directing  the  diet  of  the  mothers  that 
boys  may  be  born  to  perpetuate  the  royal  lineage  of  the 
throne.  As  the  chances  are  as  much  for  as  against  suc- 
cess, the  scientist  who  can  persuade  the  royal  gentleman 
that  sex  can  be  determined,  certainly  has  all  to  win,  and 
little  to  lose,  in  his  attempt  to  convince  the  king  that  a 
son  will  be  born.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  a  solution  to 
this  problem  would  create  much  happiness  in  many  homes 
in  all  lands.  It  is  quite  sad  indeed,  to  see  parents  with 
several  daughters  longing  in  vain  for  a  boy,  and  vice 
versa. 

So  serious  is  the  problem  and  so  earnest  have  been  many 
worthy  investigators,  that  years  of  study  have  been  given 
to  this  question.  Experiments  have  been  made  on  many 
forms  of  animal  life,  but  when  the  test  is  made  on  human 
beings,  the  solution  is  no  nearer  to-day  than  in  the  be- 
ginning. Nature  certainly  worketh  in  her  own  mysterious 
way.  Life  itself  is  unexplainable ;  likewise  we  cannot  tell 
why  death  ensues  after  a  number  of  years.  There  are 
fixed  laws  of  physical  activity  which  maintain  a  certain 

71 


72  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

balance  in  the  workings  of  organic  life.  Probably  the 
most  interesting  fact  to  note  along  this  line  is  that  the 
number  of  males  and  females  born  are  about  the  same. 
The  last  census  of  the  United  States  gave  over  47,000,000 
males  and  over  44,000,000  females.  Of  foreign  birth,  we 
find  over  9,000,000  of  each  sex.  In  the  New  England 
States  there  was  only  a  difference  of  22,000  in  the  sexes, 
and  in  the  South  Atlantic  States  only  a  difference  of 
74,000  out  of  over  12,000,000  people. 

In  one  of  our  large  cities  for  1908  there  were  born 
7,644  males  and  7,016  females;  in  1909,  7,607  males  and 
6,677  females;  in  1912,  7,799  males  and  7,267  females. 
We  notice  here  about  the  same  number  of  children  born 
each  year,  regardless  of  living  conditions;  and  the  pro- 
portion of  boys  and  girls  is  very  nearly  the  same  for  each 
year. 

It  is  not  until  somewhat  along  in  the  development  of 
the  child  that  sex  is  recognized.  For  this  reason,  that 
structure  which  gives  rise  to  the  sex  organs  has  been  called 
the  undifferentiated  gland,  in  the  belief  that  the  structure 
was  different  for  each  sex,  even  though  it  could  not  be  dem- 
onstrated. According  to  this  view  it  is  impossible  for 
the  sex  to  be  determined  after  fertilization  has  occurred  by 
any  kind  of  diet  or  mental  impressions. 

Quite  recently  Ahfeld  writes  that  he  is  convinced  the 
sex  is  determined  before  fertilization  occurs.  On  this 
hypothesis,  sex  is  explained  by  a  difference  in  the  glands. 
Somewhat  on  this  theory,  Weill  has  suggested  that  the 
difference  in  the  mass  and  in  the  motility  of  the  two  germ 
cells  will  account  for  the  victor  in  the  contest  which  is  pre- 
sumed to  take  place. 


DETERMINATION  OF  SEX  73 

From  such  data  as  we  possess,  it  has  been  claimed  that 
with  a  few  exceptions  the  primordial  germ  cells  are  sexually 
indifferent,  i.e.,  they  are  neither  male  nor  female,  and  that 
their  transformation  is  not  due  to  an  inherent  predisposi- 
tion, but  is  a  reaction  to  external  stimuli.  That  in  the 
determination  of  sex,  the  problem  of  nutrition  is  not  the 
only  determining  factor  is  shown  by  the  long-known  case 
of  the  honey-bee.  Here  sex  is  determined  by  fertilization, 
the  males  arising  only  from  unfertilized  eggs  by  partheo- 
genesis,  while  the  fertilized  eggs  give  rise  to  females  ex- 
clusively, which  develop  into  fertile  forms  (queens),  or 
sterile  forms  (workers),  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
food. 

While  these  conclusions  may  be  formed  regarding  some 
form  of  animal  life,  we  are  convinced  that  in  man  and  all 
higher  animals  that  the  sex  of  the  animal  is  determined 
in  a  very  early  period  of  its  development. 

I  quote  from  Densmore  in  "  Sex  Equality  " :  "  Males 
and  females,  whether  they  be  more  or  less  alike,  arise  from 
the  same  germinal  material.  The  germinal  material  itself 
is  sexless ;  that  is  to  say,  there  is  not  a  male  and  a  female 
germinal  material.  Whether  the  male  or  female  forms  be 
produced  depends  on  external  influences  of  food,  tempera- 
ture or  other  agencies." 

O.  Hertwig  says :  "  Every  organism,  whether  male  ot 
female,  develops  from  a  fertilized  egg  cell  apart,  of  course, 
from  the  occurrence  of  a  sexual  and  parthenogenetic  repro- 
duction. This  material  which  in  our  case  develops  into 
a  male  is,  as  far  as  our  experience  can  go,  always  the  same ; 
and  just  when  the  sex  of  the  organism  is  absolutely  de- 
cided is  a  question  to  which  no  general  answer  can  be 


74  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

given.  The  constitution  of  the  mother,  of  the  father, 
the  state  of  the  male  element  when  fertilization  occurs, 
these  and  yet  other  factors  have  all  to  be  considered." 

In  "  Evolution  of  Sex,"  by  Geddes  and  Thomson,  we 
note  the  following  statement  of  A.  Weismann :  "  Both  in 
plants  and  animals  essentially  the  same  substance  is  con- 
tained in  the  nucleus,  both  of  the  sperm-cell  and  the  egg- 
cell,  this  is  the  hereditary  substance  of  the  species.  There 
can  be  no  longer  any  doubt  that  the  nuclei  of  the  male 
and  those  of  the  female  germ-cells  are  essentially  similar." 

Professor  Thomas,  in  "  Sex  and  Society,"  quotes  from 
various  observers  who  claim  that  there  is  an  abundance  of 
evidence  to  show  that  good  nutrition  produces  females 
and  a  scarcity  of  food,  boys ;  that  rich  regions  yield  more 
furs  from  females  and  poor  regions  more  from  males  of 
fur-bearing  animals ;  that  more  boys  are  born  in  the  coun- 
try than  in  the  city,  there  the  diet  is  richer,  especially  in 
meat;  after  war,  famine  and  miseration,  more  boys  are 
born ;  when  food  stuffs  are  high  and  less  marriages,  there 
is  a  higher  percentage  of  boys,  etc.  Professor  Thomas 
assumes  that  the  chemical  constitution  of  the  organism  at 
a  given  moment  conditions  the  sex  of  the  offspring,  and 
is  itself  conditioned  by  various  factors  as  light,  heat, 
water,  electricity,  etc.,  and  that  food  is  one  of  these 
variables. 

Wilson  says  that  sex  is  not  inherited ;  that  the  animal 
inherits  the  capacity  to  develop  into  male  or  female,  the 
result  being  determined  by  the  effects  of  conditions  ex- 
ternal to  the  primordial  cells.  He  believes  that  in  regard 
to  the  influence  of  nutrition  in  the  determination  of  sex, 
if  any  influence  is  made  manifest  at  all,  it  is  not  the  quan- 


DETERMINATION  OF  SEX  75 

tity  of  the  food  taken,  but  rather  the  quality  which  is 
important. 

Expectation  and  disappointment  determine  the  policy 
of  most  people.  With  a  happy  expectation,  plans  are 
made  from  the  air-castles  we  have  been  building  for  years, 
and  if  the  long-looked-for  boy  arrives,  the  plans  are  exe- 
cuted. If  not,  in  some  cases  the  disappointment  even 
changes  the  map  of  a  locality  or  a  nation.  Who  can  say 
it  is  for  better  or  worse?  Had  parents  the  choosing  of 
the  sex  of  their  children  the  world  would  be  in  a  topsy- 
turvy condition  in  a  very  few  generations.  Let  us  be 
satisfied  with  the  uncertainties  of  life  which  develop  in 
man  the  finer  qualities  and  make  for  a  better  condition  of 
society.  Old  Nature  has  been  on  this  work  for  a  long 
time  and  cannot  be  improved  upon. 


WHAT  CONDITIONS  ARE  INHERITED? 

ARE  we  a  chip  of  the  old  block?     Does  blood  tell? 
If  your  mother  had  married  more  than  once,  would 
you  have  the  malformations  of  your  father  or  an 
older    brother's    father,    both   having   the    same    mother? 
Will  our  children  have  our  habits,  aptitudes,  mental  quali- 
ties,  and  any   of   our  infirmities?     An   attempt   is   made 
to  give  as  accurately  as  possible  whatever  information  on 
this  subject  may  be  known  to  be  reliable  at  the  present 
time. 

The  first  consideration  will  be  given  to  the  inheritance 
of  physical  conditions,  viz.,  malformations  and  disease. 
Before  discussing  these,  let  us  look  for  a  moment  to 
three  terms :  Congenital,  inherited,  and  acquired.  In- 
heritance must  come  through  the  germ  cell  or  cells.  A 
disease  to  be  inherited  must  have  been  present  in  one  of 
the  parents  before  conception.  A  congenital  disease  is 
one  that  was  present  in  the  child  at  the  time  of  its  birth, 
and  is  either  in  the  strict  sense  inherited  or  acquired. 
This  term  is  generally  used  as  referring  to  a  disease  which 
was  not  inherited,  hence  an  acquired  condition,  which  in 
itself  means  all  that  the  child  receives  from  its  parents 
after  conception  has  occurred. 

Professor  Orth  says :  "  That  which  the  child  receives 
from  its  mother  in  the  course  of  its  development  is  not 
inherited,  because  the  essence  of  heredity  does  not  consist 

of  the  circumstances  that  the  descendants  have  obtained 

76 


WHAT  CONDITIONS  ARE  INHERITED?     77 

a  particular  peculiarity  from  their  descendants,  or  that  a 
disease  has  been  transmitted  to  them  by  their  parents  or 
even  their  ancestors." 

There  is  probably  no  subject  encumbered  with  more 
fallacy  than  heredity,  as  relating  to  the  transmission  of 
diseases.  Laws  of  hereditary  transmission  are  frequently 
ignored  by  medical  authors.  On  the  flimsiest  evidence, 
they  have  attributed  all  kinds  of  acquired  diseases,  often 
of  infectious  nature,  to  heredity.  Family  histories  are 
continually  produced,  other  causes  than  direct  heredity 
are  ignored ;  even  in  the  absence  of  any  family  history 
evidence,  it  is  not  uncommon  to  allude  vaguely  to  the 
probability  of  heredity  as  a  contributory  cause.  Any 
investigation  of  medical  literature  will,  I  believe,  convince 
any  unbiased  observer  that  specific  forms  of  disease  are 
seldom  transmitted,  but  instead  a  lower  grade  of  equilib- 
rium of  metabolism  is  exhibited. 

There  is  no  dispute  among  observers  as  to  the  trans- 
mission of  certain  malformations  which  are  present  in  one 
or  more  members  of  each  generation.  Among  these  we 
find  cases  of  six  fingers,  cleft  hand,  hare-lip,  cleft  palate, 
dextro-oardia,  birthmarks,  multiple  exostoses,  tumors  of 
the  nerves,  errors  of  refraction,  absence  of  pigment  in  iris 
(albino),  forms  of  taxy,  dwarfism,  giantism,  malforma- 
tions of  sex-organs,  etc.  Lazarus-Barlow  mentions  a 
family  where  in  four  generations,  of  27  descendants,  20 
had  malformed  fingers  and  toes,  similar  to  a  deformity  of 
the  first  parent. 

A  few  years  ago  I  took  the  following  history:  Mrs. 
H has  given  birth  to  four  boys,  has  had  no  miscar- 
riages. She  was  at  that  time  eight  months  pregnant. 


78  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Her  condition  was  normal  as  far  as  the  pregnancy  was 
concerned.  Has  had  a  simple  goiter  since  a  girl.  The 
first  three  boys  were  born  blind.  First  one  died  at  thir- 
teenth month;  second  one  died  at  ninth  month;  third  at 
twenty-first  month.  All  of  whom  developed  hydrocepha- 
lus.  Fourth,  six  years  of  age,  living  and  well.  Mrs. 

H was  one  of  eleven  children.  The  eldest  died  at  the 

age  of  four  years.  Youngest  at  age  of  two  years ;  eight 
were  boys  and  three  were  girls ;  three  of  the  boys  were 

born  blind,  and  developed  hydrocephalus.  Mrs.  H 's 

grandmother  had  eighteen  children ;  eight  boys,  two  of 
whom  were  born  blind.  Nothing  can  be  learned  as  to 
presence  of  hydrocephalus.  No  blindness  has  been  mani- 
fest at  any  time  on  Mr.  H 's  side.  Later.  The  child 

was  born  in  October,  apparently  normal.  A  short  time 
after  birth  I  noticed  eye  trouble  and  had  the  child  exam- 
ined by  an  eye  specialist.  He  pronounced  the  condition 
one  of  congenital  cataract,  affecting  both  eyes.  This 
child  died  of  hydrocephalus  at  the  age  of  seven  months. 
Still  later. —  Another  child  was  born  apparently  quite  nor- 
mal, and  was  still  so  at  six  months  of  age.  In  four  gen- 
erations, numbering  seventy  persons,  seventeen  (all  boys) 
were  either  born  blind  or  became  so  a  short  time  after 
birth.  These  children  developed  hydrocephalus  and  died 
in  infancy. 

In  a  family  of  eight  children,  four  of  them  after  the 
age  of  puberty  had  to  be  sent  to  a  home  for  the  feeble- 
minded. Other  children  seem  normal.  Parents  were 
cousins. 

Miss  A has  the  second  toe  lapped  over  the  first 

toe:  little  toe  lapped  over  the  third  toe.  Space  between 


WHAT  CONDITIONS  ARE  INHERITED?     79 

second  and  third  toes  normal.  Her  mother  and  mother's 
mother  had  the  same  condition. 

Mr.  C was  injured  in  the  army:  had  his  arm  ampu- 
tated. His  son,  a  normal  man,  married  a  wealthy  woman : 
the  first  child,  a  son  (grandson  of  the  soldier),  had  a 
similar  stump  of  arm. 

Mr.  D — —  reports  case  of  a  woman,  eight  times  preg- 
nant: second,  third,  fifth  children  were  born  anencephalic, 
the  other  children  normal.  No  family  history  of  this 
condition. 

Mr.  Davis  and  wife,  both  colored :  first  child  very  light. 
They  present  the  following  history:  Mr.  Davis  has  two 
white  grandfathers:  his  grandmothers  both  black.  Mrs. 
Davis  had  one  white  grandfather,  remaining  grandparents 
black. 

Mr.  L has  a  deformed  arm,  without  a  palm  of  the 

hand,  but  with  rudimentary  fingers.  One  of  his  daugh- 
ters has  a  similar  deformity ;  so  has  her  child. 

Mr.  U has  normal  arms,  but  one  of  his  sons  has 

the  deformity  of  an  uncle. 

Mr.  W has  stuttered  all  his  life.  His  mother  has 

stuttered  all  her  life.  He  has  two  brothers,  one  of  whom 
is  as  bad  as  himself.  None  of  his  sisters  have  stuttered. 
No  stuttering  on  his  father's  side.  His  mother's  mother 
stuttered. 

Family  of  six  children:  all  of  whom  developed  hydro- 
cephalus  about  the  age  of  two  years,  and  all  of  whom 
died  before  the  age  of  three  years.  No  hereditary  history. 

Family  of  twelve  children :  all  of  whom  are  married ; 
each  have  one  child  which  is  insane.  The  family  history 
is  excellent. 


80  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

The  following  interesting  history  I  obtained  from  two 
men  who  were  members  of  a  theatrical  company : 

Mr.  C.  S ,  thirty-seven  years  old.  Has  a  brother 

thirty-nine  years  old.  Weight  of  Mr.  C.  S ,  ninety- 
three  pounds,  that  of  brother,  ninety-six  pounds.  Height 

of  Mr.  C.  S ,  three  feet,  five  inches,  brother,  three 

feet,  six  inches.  He  has  two  sisters  quite  tall.  Father, 
six  feet,  one  inch,  and  weighs  180  pounds.  Mother  of 
ordinary  size  and  weighs  130  pounds.  Grandparents 

were  all  large,  and  born  in  Germany.  Mr.  C.  S takes 

six  and  seven-eighths  hat,  chest  thirty-five  inches,  in-seam 
of  pants,  fourteen  inches.  Went  to  school  for  eight 

years ;  has  never  been  sick.  Mr.  B ,  thirty-three 

years  old.  Father  very  tall  and  thin.  Mother  very  tall 

and  slight.  Mr.  B weighs  eighty-seven  pounds, 

thirty-seven  inches  tall.  Has  two  brothers,  all  large ;  two 
sisters,  one  large  and  the  other  very  small,  being  twenty- 
nine  inches  in  height.  This  small  sister  is  twenty-seven 
years,  has  been  married  for  four  years,  has  two  children, 
both  large,  one  being  an  instrumental  delivery,  while  the 
last  was  without  a  physician.  Her  husband  weighs  200 

pounds.  All  their  ancestors  were  large.  Mr.  C.  S 

has  been  married  for  four  years,  has  no  children.  Both 
Mr.  C.  S and  Mr.  B have  deformed  chests. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  cases  I  have  collected. 
They  serve  to  show  peculiar  congenital  conditions,  most 
of  which  we  cannot  explain,  either  by  heredity  or  influ- 
ences bearing  upon  the  children  in  utero.  All  of  the  cases 
which  I  have  not  seen  personally  have  been  vouched  for. 
I  might  say  that  I  have  never  seen  any  cases  where  a 
mutilation,  like  in  the  soldier's  grandson,  has  appeared 


WHAT  CONDITIONS  ARE  INHERITED?     81 

in  a  succeeding  generation ;  I  will  be  a  "  doubting 
Thomas  "  until  I  do. 

Malformations  owe  their  causes  to  either  intrinsic  or 
extrinsic  origin.  The  intrinsic  causes  are  that  either  one 
or  both  of  the  sexual  nuclei  which  enter  into  the  germinal 
union  may  have  been  abnormal,  or  both  may  have  been 
normal,  but  from  their  union  a  variety  has  arisen  which 
from  one  point  of  view  must  be  regarded  as  abnormal. 
It  is  also  possible  that  disturbances  in  the  processes  of 
fertilization  can  give  rise  to  pathological  variations. 
When  a  similar  malformation  has  been  present  in  the  par- 
ent, the  case  is  one  that  has  been  inherited.  The  extrinsic 
causes  include  concussion,  pressure,  disturbances  in  nutri- 
tion of  the  child  and  infections.  The  malformations  so 
produced  are  congenital,  but  not  inherited.  One  writer 
says  that  the  assumption  that  the  occurrence  of  a  birth- 
mark in  a  child  in  the  same  region  of  the  skin  as  that  in 
which  the  mother  has  a  scar  is  a  proof  that  this  deformity 
is  not  inherited,  inasmuch  as  birthmarks  and  scars  are 
two  entirely  different  pathological  processes. 

In  some  physical  abnormalities  as  hemaphilia  (bleeder's 
disease),  color  blindness,  etc.,  it  is  seen  that  generally  the 
males  are  affected,  but  the  disease  is  transmitted  by  the 
unaffected  females.  Myopia,  short-sightedness,  generally 
affects  the  same  sex,  i.  e.,  father  and  son,  or  mother  and 
daughter.  When  two  parents  are  normal,  with  affected 
ancestors,  the  children  will  be  normal,  but  if  one  of  the 
parents  is  affected  some  of  the  children  will  most  likely 
have  the  same  condition.  When  both  parents  are  deaf 
mutes,  one-fourth,  at  least,  of  the  children  will  be  deaf. 
If  both  deaf  mute  parents  are  cousins,  one-fourth  of  the 


82  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

children  will  be  deaf  mutes.  If  the  deaf  mute  parents  are 
not  relatives,  7  per  cent,  of  the  children  are  deaf  mutes. 
Acquired  deafness  is  not  hereditary. 

There  are  many  families  in  which  are  found  many  cases 
of  cancer,  gout,  rheumatism,  goiter,  heart  disease,  lung 
disease,  etc.,  but  still  these  diseases  cannot  be  said  to  be 
inherited.  There  is  frequently  no  doubt  a  family  predis- 
position on  account  of  a  very  feeble  resistance  to  infec- 
tions, which  weakness  may  be  increased  by  family  traits, 
diet,  form  of  living,  etc.,  so  that  many  an  observer  might 
without  careful  investigation  conclude  that  these  condi- 
tions were  actually  inherited. 

For  similar  reasons  many  nervous  diseases  as  chorea, 
hysteria,  etc.,  are  said  to  be  inherited.  I  have  never 
blamed  any  girl  for  being  nervous  when  she  has  been  com- 
pelled to  live  in  the  environment  of  a  hysterical  mother. 
We  must  remember  that  in  these  diseases,  as  well  as  to  a 
lesser  extent,  epilepsy,  insanity,  tuberculosis,  alcoholism, 
criminality,  etc.,  which  will  be  considered  in  later  chap- 
ters, there  is  an  inheritance  of  predisposition  to  the  dis- 
ease. The  morbid  condition  itself  is  developed  through 
the  action  of  external  harmful  influences  upon  the  central 
nervous  system. 


INSANITY  AND  ALCOHOLISM 

WHILE  medical  opinions  quite  agree  in  regard  to 
the  transmissibility  of  tuberculosis  and  syphilis, 
there  is  a  wide  variance  of  opinion  of  the  best 
men  as  to  the  inheritance  of  insanity,  alcoholism,  epilepsy, 
and  different  forms  of  degeneracy.  In  no  line  of  research 
do  we  find  so  much  controversy  in  arriving  at  a  conclu- 
sion as  we  do  in  the  inheritance  of  alcoholism  and  insan- 
ity. Equally  intelligent  men  studying  the  same  or  similar 
cases  do  not  agree.  The  conclusions  are  affected  by  the 
forces  behind  the  investigator,  by  previous  cases,  by  a  de- 
sire to  prove  or  disprove  certain  theories.  It  often  re- 
quires almost  a  superhuman  spirit  of  justice  to  permit  a 
recognition  of  phenomena  which  are  the  positive  results 
of  physical  laws.  The  reason  for  this  being  that  the 
investigator  is  continually  endeavoring  to  confirm  certain 
preconceived  hypotheses.  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  it 
is  only  occasionally  that  insanity  or  alcoholism  is  trans- 
mitted unless  both  of  the  parents  are  affected.  This 
statement  should  be  somewhat  qualified,  for  we  do  see  many 
cases  where  only  one  of  the  parents  or  only  a  grandpar- 
ent was  affected  and  the  disease  is  present  in  the  child  or 
grandchild.  In  such  instances  the  germ  plasm  of  that 
parent  has  been  affected.  Mott  says  that  a  hereditary 
predisposition  is  the  most  important  factor  in  the  pro- 
duction of  insanity,  imbecility  and  epilepsy.  He  further 
states  that  the  mother  transmits  insanity  more  frequently 

than  the  father. 

83 


84  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

We  know  that  when  both  parents  are  neuropathic  that 
all  the  children  will  be  neuropathic.  If  the  parents  are 
normal,  with  a  pure  normal  ancestry,  the  children  will  be 
normal.  In  examining  the  statistics  of  insane  asylums, 
we  find  tables  giving  causes  of  insanity  of  the  inmates. 
A  careful  study  of  these  tables  shows  that  very  little  de- 
pendence can  be  placed  upon  these  statements  for  the  rea- 
son that  very  many  of  the  causes  are  those  given  by 
friends  or  members  of  the  family,  who  have  either  not  been 
able  to  obtain  or  do  not  desire  to  give  the  exact  facts  in 
the  ancestry  of  the  inmate.  It  is  only  in  those  institu- 
tions where  a  complete  family  history  of  the  case  is  taken 
that  any  reliance  can  be  placed  in  such  data. 

Further,  it  is  only  in  the  past  few  years  that  any  of  the 
institutions  for  the  care  of  our  defectives,  as  insane,  fee- 
ble-minded, criminals,  paupers,  etc.,  have  included  on  their 
staff  a  competent  psychologist  or  sociologist.  It  is  ex- 
tremely important  from  an  economical  and  remedial  stand- 
point that  such  persons  should  investigate  all  cases  in 
these  institutions.  Then  our  information  will  be  more  re- 
liable and  we  will  be  much  better  equipped  to  deal  with 
these  difficult  problems.  The  writer  hopes  from  time  to 
time  to  make  a  personal  study  of  many  of  our  institutions 
with  a  view  of  obtaining  a  better  method  of  classifying 
these  cases. 

The  time  has  arrived  when  we  must  come  to  a  clear  un- 
derstanding of  the  duty  of  eugenics.  If  we  would  believe 
many  of  the  scientists  that  heredity  plays  as  great  a  part 
as  many  of  them  claim,  then  the  work  of  the  Church, 
charitable  institutions,  and  uplift  organizations  will  have 
been  in  vain.  The  Church  can  never  accept  the  teachings 


INSANITY  AND  ALCOHOLISM  85 

of  these  men.  I  agree  with  Dr.  Maudsley,  quoted  below, 
that  our  social  conditions  with  alcoholism,  disease,  etc., 
will  in  a  very  few  generations  destroy  the  vitality  of  the 
hardiest  of  races. 

"  If  all  the  insanity  from  all  causes  was  wiped  out  to- 
day in  three  generations  the  amount  would  be  as  great 
as  it  is  at  present;  if  from  alcohol  alone,  provided  that 
people  continued  to  live  as  they  now  do." —  Maudsley. 

"  Statistics  will  not  show  accurately  the  amount  of  in- 
sanity due  to  alcoholism,  for  in  many  so-called  alcoholism 
cases  alcohol  has  been  only  a  sort  of  a  means  to  bring  out 
some  hereditary  weakness,  such  as  epilepsy,  which,  had  it 
not  been  present,  no  insanity  would  have  occurred." — 
Dr.  Walker,  Dixmont,  Pa. 

Dr.  K reports  500  cases  of  inebriety.  In  225  cases 

he  was  able  to  trace  the  ancestral  history  showing  like 
conditions.  In  125  cases  he  found  deficient  brains.  Mr. 
Nicholl,  studying  school  children,  finds  that  of  prosperous 
pupils,  32  per  cent,  had  drinking  parents,  and  68  per  cent. 
abstaining  parents ;  while  of  poor  pupils,  85  per  cent, 
had  drinking  parents,  and  15  per  cent,  abstaining  par- 
ents. Out  of  102  children  in  25  families  of  heavy  drink- 
ing parents,  he  found  that  8  showed  tuberculosis,  31  nerv- 
ous diseases,  41  drinkers,  6  degenerates,  4  idiots,  and 
only  5  normal. 

Dr.  H reports  1400  cases.  In  613  he  found  in- 
temperance. Insanity  was  found  in  ninety  cases.  He 
was  able  to  trace  a  degenerated  condition  or  intemperance, 
etc.,  in  two-thirds  of  the  parents,  one  or  both;  he  also 
found  that  the  condition  existed  in  one-twenty-fifth  of 
the  grandparents. 


86  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

In  a  New  York  home  for  inebriates,  insane,  etc.,  it  was 
found  that  of  600  confined  in  the  home  at  the  time,  265 
were  inebriates,  and  38  were  insane.  Inebriety  was  seen 
in  the  father  in  168  cases,  in  the  mother  in  9,  and  in 
both  father  and  mother  in  1£.  Insanity  was  seen  in  the 
father  in  3  cases,  in  the  mother  in  3,  in  a  brother  in  6, 
and  in  a  sister  in  7  cases.  In  discussing  variations  in 
man  and  woman,  Ellis  says :  "  Idiocy  is  mainly  a  con- 
genital condition,  and  therefore  a  good  test  of  organic 
variational  tendency ;  insanity,  though  usually  on  a  heredi- 
tary basis,  is  invariably  an  acquired  condition,  dependent 
on  all  sorts  of  environmental  influences,  so  that  it  cannot 
possibly  furnish  an  equally  fundamental  test." 

Dana  recently  states :  "  The  most  immeasurably  im- 
portant factor  in  the  attempt  to  limit  and  prevent  insan- 
ity is  to  secure  well-born  children.  To  see  that  persons 
who  have  weak  constitutions,  or  those  poisoned,  do  not 
propagate  their  kind.  This  can  be  accomplished  by  long 
years  of  training  and  careful  education.  He  says  that 
if  we  could  subtract  alcoholism  from  our  social  life  and 
nothing  took  its  place  we  could  cut  out  one-tenth  of  the 
cases  of  insanity  brought  on  directly  by  this  poison.  We 
could  possibly  subtract  a  large  number  brought  on  indi- 
rectly. If  we  could  subtract  syphilis  from  our  civilization 
we  could  cut  out  one-tenth  more  of  the  insane.  But  after 
all,  supposing  these  impossible  facts  could  be  accomplished, 
there  would  still  be  left  a  large  percentage  of  the  alien- 
ated, and  this  percentage  would  include  persons  who  de- 
veloped disordered  minds  because  they  were  born  with  a 
tendency  to  mental  degeneration.  There  is  an  increasing 
conviction  among  psychiatrists  that  some  inherited  de- 


INSANITY  AND  ALCOHOLISM  87 

feet,  often  the  most  subtle  and  difficult  to  recognize,  is 
present  in  all  those  who  develop  mental  disorders.  With- 
out some  original  weak  spot  and  the  psyche  or  soma,  a 
man  who  is  infected  will  not  get  paresis  or  tabes ;  the  man 
who  has  fevers,  toxaemias,  will  not  get  a  delirium  or  insan- 
ity." Our  later  conclusions  will  not  entirely  agree  with 
Professor  Dana. 

"  In  regard  to  the  effects  of  alcohol  upon  the  descend- 
ants, anything  which  devitalizes  the  parent,  unfavorably 
affects  the  offspring,  and  clinical  experience  supports  this 
in  the  lowered  height  and  impaired  general  physique  of 
the  issue  of  intemperate  parents.  It  also  records  the  fact 
that  no  less  than  4<£  per  cent,  of  all  inebriates  relate  a 
history  of  either  drink,  insanity,  or  epilepsy  in  their  an- 
cestors."—  Dr.  Robert  Jones,  F.R.C.S.,  Medical  Superin- 
tendent Claybury  Asylum. 

"  From  the  medical  and  scientific  point  of  view  we  have 
this  great  physiological  fact  before  us,  that  the  first  thing 
alcohol  does  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred  is  to 
affect  the  mental  working  of  the  brain  of  the  man  who  im- 
bibes."—  Dr.  Clouston,  Medical  Superintendent  Morning- 
side  Lunatic  Asylum,  near  Edinburgh. 

"  During  the  years  1861-65  there  entered  the  asylums 
of  France  14,983  insane  persons.  In  the  same  space  of 
time,  twenty  years  later,  there  entered  more  than  57,000. 
.  .  .  Dr.  Serieux  made  researches,  and  found  that  of  the 
relapsed  cases,  78  per  cent,  were  drinkers,  while  of  vio- 
lent lunatics,  88  per  cent,  were  drinkers." —  The  Lancet. 

In  the  1913  United  States  Brewers'  Association  Year 
Book,  under  the  heading  of  Alcohol  and  Heredity,  some 
of  the  above  quotations  are  given  and  many  more.  After 


88  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

reviewing  these,  the  writer  of  that  association  says,  in 
part :  "  To  begin  with,  several  circumstances  must  be 
considered  which  most  of  the  authors  overlook.  When 
one  proceeds,  for  instance,  as  Dugdale  in  The  Jukes  and 
Lidstrom  have  done,  by  taking  a  male  progenitor  who  is 
alcoholic  and  paying  no  heed  to  the  female  progenitor, 
and  to  the  admixture  of  all  the  foreign  blood  which  makes 
it  possible  for  a  family  to  build  up  one  generation  after 
another,  one  has  admittedly  foregone  the  possibility  of 
judging  how  far  any  causative  relation  whatsoever  can 
be  supposed  to  exist  between  the  alcoholism  of  the  parents, 
grandparents,  etc.,  and  the  defectiveness  of  the  offspring. 
In  order  to  arrive  at  correct  judgment  it  is  necessary  to 
prepare  and  study  not  only  family  trees,  but  genealogical 
tables.  .  .  .  Thus  the  question  of  '  alcohol  and  heredity  ' 
may,  for  the  present,  be  summed  up  by  saying  that,  so 
far  as  hereby  is  meant  the  power  of  alcohol  to  injure  the 
organs  of  heredity,  research  has  not  hitherto  succeeded 
in  showing  that  such  an  effect  is  produced.  Moreover, 
the  facts  that  have  been  gathered  and  critically  worked 
over  do  not  seem  to  support  the  probability  of  such  a 
power;  but  its  possibility  cannot  be  denied." 

We  cannot  believe  that  because  a  man  has  been  a 
drunkard  his  children  are  necessarily  damned,  yet  there 
is  much  in  the  statement  of  Johnson,  who  says  that  there 
are  in  France  two  periods  in  each  year  for  the  production 
of  degenerates:  these  are  the  periods  of  the  vintage  and 
the  carnival.  Here  the  effect  of  alcohol  on  the  parent  is 
such  that  at  the  time  of  conception  the  germ  cells  are 
poisoned  and  the  result  is  shown  in  the  nervous  system  of 
the  children. 


INSANITY  AND  ALCOHOLISM  89 

Dr.  Matthew  Woods,  at  the  International  Congress  of 
Medicine,  held  in  London,  in  1913,  reported  seven  cases 
of  epilepsy  in  children  which  were  traced  to  alcoholic 
intoxication  on  the  part  of  one  or  both  parents,  otherwise 
teetotalers,  i.  e.,  these  parents  were  known  as  abstainers, 
but  for  some  reason,  as  a  farewell  banquet,  etc.,  a  condi- 
tion of  alcoholic  excitement  (for  the  first  time  in  these 
cases),  was  followed  with  the  consequent  poisoning  of  the 
germ  cells,  producing  the  epileptic  children.  Dr.  Woods 
quotes  Maudsley  as  saying  that  epileptics,  because  of 
drink  on  the  part  of  the  parents,  are  as  much  manufac- 
tured articles  as  are  steam  engines  or  calico  printing  ma- 
chines. Molli  has  assured  us  that  of  all  persons  inherit- 
ing impaired  nervous  systems  from  drunken  parents,  from 
30  to  40  per  cent,  were  epileptics.  Djerine  says  that 
in  France  51.5  per  cent,  of  all  epilepsies  in  children  were 
due  to  parental  alcoholism,  and  but  21  per  cent,  to  paren- 
tal epilepsy. 

Dr.  Demme's  studies,  conducted  in  Berne,  Switzerland, 
covering  a  period  of  twelve  years,  gave  this  result:  Of 
the  descendants  of  ten  very  temperate  families,  8%  per 
cent,  were  normal,  and  18  per  cent,  were  feeble  or  sub- 
normal. Of  the  descendants  of  ten  intemperate  families, 
with  nearly  all  the  same  number  of  children,  only  17.5  per 
cent,  were  normal,  while  82.5  per  cent,  were  feeble  and 
subnormal.  Of  this  group,  43.8  per  cent,  died  in  infancy, 
while  of  the  normal  group  only  8.2  per  cent,  died  in 
infancy. 

It  is  quite  agreed,  then,  that  alcoholism  in  the  parents 
is  manifested  in  the  children  in  epilepsy,  feeble-minded- 
ness,  insanity,  immorality,  criminality,  pauperism,  etc.  A 


90  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

woman  drunkard  who  died  early  in  the  nineteenth  century 
was  the  direct  ancestor  of  834  persons,  of  whom  there 
were  700  records.  Of  these,  167  were  illegitimate,  16& 
mendicants,  64  panderers,  187  prostitutes,  7  convicted 
murderers,  and  67  convicted  of  lesser  crime. 

Quite  a  lively  discussion  has  been  going  on  in  England 
for  the  past  four  years  on  the  question  of  whether  alco- 
holism is  the  cause  of  degeneracy  or  is  a  result  of  it.  In 
other  words,  does  a  man  become  a  drunkard  because  of 
the  continued  use  of  alcohol,  leading  to  paresis,  etc.,  or  is 
his  alcoholism  the  result  of  a  weakness  which  he  inherited 
and  which  determined  his  desire  for  drink?  The  prac- 
tical man  still  believes  that  every  normal  person  has  a  will 
and  with  the  average  opportunity  he  can  refrain  from 
such  degenerate  tendencies  if  he  desires  to  do  so.  A  most 
radical  view,  which  but  few  would  accept,  is  that  given  by 
Krafft-Ebing,  and  others,  who  say  that  while  it  is  unde- 
niable that  an  excess  of  alcohol  occurs  in  degenerate 
stocks,  yet  an  intolerance  is  also  an  expression  of  degener- 
acy. This  tolerance,  they  claim,  in  the  abstainer  is  either 
because  of  an  idiosyncrasy  whereby  he  cannot  drink  or 
does  not  on  account  of  parsimony.  They  assert  that  ab- 
stainers have  degenerate  offspring,  in  which  the  degen- 
eracy assumes  the  type  of  excess  in  alcohol  as  well  as 
even  lower  phases.  Certainly  a  little  learning  has  made 
some  learned  men  mad. 

It  is  frequently  stated  in  articles  on  degeneracy  that 
the  percentage  of  alcoholism  among  the  parents  of  the 
feeble-minded  is  so  much,  but  no  attempt  is  made  to  esti- 
mate the  amount  of  alcoholism  in  the  parents  of  the  non- 
feeble-minded  of  the  same  class  of  society.  Many  assert 


INSANITY  AND  ALCOHOLISM  91 

the  percentage  of  feeble-mindedness  is  not  very  great  in 
the  population  at  large.  We  often  forget  to  include  cases 
in  "  good  families,"  where  the  patient  is  not  confined  in  a 
charitable  institution.  The  question  arises  which  we 
would  like  to  settle:  When  we  find  alcoholism  associated 
with  insanity,  should  we  attribute  the  latter  to  the  former, 
or  is  it  quite  as  probable  that  the  general  want  of  mental 
balance  produces  the  alcoholism? 

"  The  latest  and  most  authentic  statistics  show  that 
over  10  per  cent,  of  all  mortality  is  due  to  the  abuse  of 
alcoholism,  and  fully  20  per  cent,  of  all  disease  is  trace- 
able to  this  cause ;  also  that  over  50  per  cent,  of  insanity, 
idiocy,  and  pauperism  springs  from  this  source.  It  is 
quite  generally  agreed  that  from  75  to  90  per  cent,  of 
all  criminality  is  caused  by  the  abuse  of  alcohol.  These 
and  other  well  authenticated  facts  indicate  the  necessity 
of  a  more  exact  medical  study  of  alcohol  and  its  effect 
and  influence  on  society  and  the  individual." —  T.  D. 
Crothers,  M.D.,  Hartford,  Conn.,  Superintendent  Walnut 
Lodge  Hospital,  1905. 

Dr.  Kerr  observed  that  among  1500  cases  of  alcoholism, 
755  had  a  history  of  parental  inebriety.  Mott  finds  5 
per  cent,  of  the  inmates  of  the  London  asylums  related. 
The  following  case  related  by  an  observer  gives  us  a  fairly 

good  idea  of  the  problems :  Mr.  A is  an  epileptic. 

His  parents  were  apparently  healthy  until  along  in  life. 
They  died,  one  of  cancer  the  other  of  tuberculosis,  two 

years  after  birth  of  A .  Grandparents  were  healthy. 

A was  consequently  a  weakling.  The  somatic  cells 

of  both  parents  were  evidently  much  diseased  at  the  time 
of  the  conception  of  A .  In  such  cases  we  see  that 


92  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

infections  and  alcohol  actually  injure  the  germ  plasm  and 
produce  nervous  defects  in  the  children. 

In  some  recent  statistics  by  Gordon  we  note :  "  Bourne- 
ville,  in  1896,  investigated  1000  idiots  and  found  alco- 
holic parentage  in  62  per  cent.  Legrain's  investigations 
show  precocious  mental  disturbances.  In  57  per  cent,  the 
subjects  were  idiots  and  imbeciles,  and  44  per  cent,  were 
classed  as  insane,  these  being  the  children  of  alcoholic 
parents.  Alcohol  holds  first  place  among  all  the  poison- 
ous or  noxious  factors  capable  of  producing  degenerative 
conditions  in  races,  individuals,  tissues,  organs,  and  cells 
which  are  transmitted  to  several  successive  generations. 
Congenital  internal  hydrocephalus,  various  meningocele, 
encephalocele,  anencephaly,  and  spina  bifida,  can  all  be 
traced  to  inherited  syphilis." 

Dr.  K states  that  there  is  a  transmission  to  drink 

impulse.  Defective  will  power,  physical  disease,  etc.,  are 
transmitted  by  alcoholism.  The  same  authority  claims 
that  in  inherited  alcoholism,  the  conditions  can  be  over- 
come by  education,  culture,  etc.  Morel  says :  "  I  have 
never  seen  a  patient  cured  of  his  propensity  to  drink 
which  was  due  to  hereditary  predisposition.  Intemper- 
ance is  so  destructive  to  the  length  of  life  that  the  expec- 
tation of  life  of  a  man  of  thirty  of  intemperate  habits  is 
given  as  thirteen  years,  while  that  of  a  healthy  farmer  is 
given  as  thirty  years. 

"  The  family  histories  collected  during  some  years  in 
the  Galton  Laboratory,  as  well  as  masses  of  other  data, 
seemed  to  indicate  definitely  that  extreme  alcoholism  was 
only  consequent  on  the  preexisting  degeneracy  of  the 
stock.  To  those  who  have  studied  the  heredity  of  physical 


INSANITY  AND  ALCOHOLISM  93 

and  mental  defects  and  noted  the  frequent  appearance  of 
alcoholism  in  such  stocks,  it  must  appear  the  height  of 
absurdity  to  attribute  deaf-mutism,  dwarfism,  and  phys- 
ical deformity  to  parental  alcoholism.  If  extreme  alco- 
holism therefore,  be,  as  we  believe  from  our  data,  a  conse- 
quent and  not  an  antecedent  of  defectiveness,  then  of  what 
service  for  eugenic  purposes  can  be  a  campaign  which 
confuses  all  grades  of  alcohol  users,  and  which  would 
not  reach  the  root  of  the  matter,  if  it  succeeded  in  cutting 
off  entirely  all  opportunities  for  the  procuring  of  alco- 
hol ?  One  step  only  in  this  direction  —  the  segregation 
of  the  mentally  defective  —  would  affect  at  least  50  per 
cent,  of  the  persons  who  ultimately  find  their  way  into  a 
prison,  asylum  or  inebriate  reformatory." —  Prof.  Karl 
Pearson. 

The  Pennsylvania  State  Board  of  Charities,  in  its  re- 
port to  the  Legislature,  January,  1915,  points  out  that 
considerable  adverse  criticism  has  existed  because  the  State 
did  not  have  an  institution  for  the  treatment  of  those 
addicted  to  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  or  intoxicating 
drugs. 

"  While  on  this  subject,"  says  the  report,  "  we  are  con- 
strained to  remark,  whether  it  be  directly   or  indirectly 
or  not  within  our  province,  that  legislation  looking  toward 
the  prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  harmful 
products  within  our  Commonwealth  might  be  inquired  into 
with  laudable  results,  and  on  this  subject  of  legislation 
generally,    that   which   is    preventive   in   its    character   is 
most  desirable  and  might  be  profitably  employed  in  this 
i  instance.     In  every  class  of  institution  within  our  charge 
!  indisputable  evidence  is  constantly  before  us  in  the  form 


94  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

of  the  ravages  of  disease  and  delinquency  due  to  the  use 
of  alcohol  and  drugs." 

New  York  State  has  30,000  insane  in  her  institutions, 
which  require  11,000  attendants,  superintendents,  doc- 
tors, stewards,  guards,  and  the  like  after  them.  Eight 
million  dollars  was  appropriated  by  the  Legislature  for 
the  institutions.  An  editorial  writer  recently  states: 
"  If  affairs  are  anything  as  bad  as  officially  reported  it 
must  seem  that  the  really  feeble-minded  are  the  voters  of 
the  State  who  have  indifferently  or  blindly  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  so  victimized  by  the  politicians." 

In  many  States  the  present  system  of  dealing  with 
charities  tends  to  political  favoritism.  It  is  absolutely 
essential  that  politics  be  divorced  from  our  charitable  in- 
stitutions. A  comprehensive  plan  for  the  segregation  of 
the  feeble-minded  is  reasonable  and  economical.  The 
good  of  society  demands  the  most  complete  segregation 
of  all  who  might  be  dangerous  to  future  generations  as 
well  as  a  menace  and  nuisance  to  this.  The  intelligent 
consideration  of  this  problem  demands  an  unselfish  policy 
on  the  part  of  our  lawmakers  and  social  workers. 


SYPHILIS  AND  TUBERCULOSIS 

FROM  a  practical  standpoint  it  can  be  said  that  there 
are  only  two  infectious  diseases  that  may  be  con- 
sidered hereditary.  These  are  syphilis  and  tubercu- 
losis, and  the  opinion  of  the  best  medical  men  to-day  is 
that  in  a  strict  sense  tuberculosis  is  not  inherited;  so  we 
have  but  one  infectious  disease  handed  down  from  gener- 
ation to  generation,  viz.,  syphilis.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  this  is  the  disease  which  is  referred  to  in  the  third 
commandment  of  Moses,  which  reads  in  part  as  follows : 
".  .  .  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  chil- 
dren unto  the  third  and  fourth  generations  of  them  that 
hate  me."  There  are  authentic  cases  on  record  showing 
where  this  disease  has  appeared  in  the  third  generation 
without  the  second  generation  having  presented  any  evi- 
dence of  the  infection. 

This  disease  produces  more  misery,  infirmities,  poverty, 
and  crime  than  any  several  diseases  combined,  and  is  a 
greater  "  agenic "  (against  eugenics)  force  than  any 
other,  alcohol  excepted.  It  is  a  most  common  thing  to 
see  a  child  born  with  this  disease  so  severe  as  to  cause  its 
early  death,  neither  parent  having  known  that  he  or  she 
had  the  disease,  or  if  knowing  it  had  considered  it  of  little 
consequence  and  had  married  accordingly.  A  recent  re- 
port of  a  New  York  State  insane  asylum  states  that  25 
per  cent,  of  the  cases  of  insanity  in  that  institution  were 

due  to  syphilis.     We  know  that  it  is  the  cause  of  nearly 

95 


96  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

all  the  cases  of  locomotor  ataxia,  a  large  percentage  of 
cases  of  paresis,  and  other  nervous  diseases  of  the  adult, 
apoplexy,  malformations  of  the  new-born,  and  premature 
births.  Surely  every  intelligent  man  and  woman  can  see 
the  awful  tragedy  of  human  lives  due  to  this  one  disease. 
Why  then  should  any  one,  unless  it  be  for  selfish  motives, 
refuse  to  see  the  importance  of  practical  eugenics?  As  a 
eugenic  factor  in  our  social  and  economic  conditions 
venereal  disease  will  be  given  subsequent  consideration. 

In  order  that  the  subject  of  inheritance  of  tuberculosis 
may  be  made  clear,  allow  me  to  quote  from  Nothnagel, 
who  says :  "  Baumgarten  and  others  believe  that  chil- 
dren are  born  with  the  bacillus  tuberculosis.  The  ma- 
jority of  medical  men  assume  that  a  certain  predisposition 
is  transmitted.  Jani  found  the  bacilli  in  healthy  male 
sex  organs  in  five  out  of  eight  persons  who  had  died  of 
pulmonary  tuberculosis.  Dogs  have  been  infected  by  in- 
jection of  semen  from  seminal  vesicles  of  tubercular 
individuals.  Other  experimenters  have  found  that  if  the 
uro-genital  system  is  healthy,  the  sperma  of  tuberculosis 
patients  are,  with  rare  exceptions,  free  from  the  bacilli. 
Infection  can  take  place  through  the  placenta.  An  in- 
trauterine  infection  in  any  one  case  is  proved  conclusively 
if  tubercular  changes  in  the  foetus  are  noted  immediately 
or  shortly  after  birth,  so  that  post  partum  infection  can 
be  excluded.  In  many  cases  cited  the  mother  had  tuber- 
culosis. The  autopsies  of  children  show  the  slight  pos- 
sibility of  transmission,  except  in  rare  cases." 

I  desire  to  emphasize  as  strongly  as  possible  the  fact 
that  a  child  is  very  rarely  born  with  tuberculosis.  It  is 
born  with  a  weaker  constitution  and  into  an  environment 


SYPHILIS  AND  TUBERCULOSIS  97 

which  will  soon  lead  to  the  infection  of  the  child.  A  few 
statistics  will  be  of  value. 

Demme  found  out  of  861  children  in  a  hospital,  but 
eight  tubercular.  Dannelongue  in  1,006  cases,  at  one 
year  of  age,  eighty-seven  tubercular.  Biedert,  in  134 
autopsies,  found  7  per  cent,  under  one  year  of  age.  Heller 
at  Kiel  in  the  deaths  from  tuberculosis  up  to  one  month, — 
.0  per  cent. ;  two  months,  0.83  per  cent. ;  six  months,  11.3 
per  cent. ;  12  months,  22.5  per  cent. ;  two  years,  29  per 
cent.  In  1,805  autopsies  from  report  of  Virchow,  none 
had  tuberculosis  under  two  months.  Epstein  saw  no  cases 
of  tuberculosis  in  the  foundling  at  Prague ;  infants  being 
fed  by  wet  nurses.  In  the  orphan  asylum  at  Niirnberg, 
with  average  capacity  of  100,  many  with  a  tubercular 
family  history,  Stitch  saw  only  one  case  of  tuberculosis 
in  eight  years.  In  the  Munich  Asylum,  41  per  cent,  of 
the  children  showed  tuberculosis  in  both  parents ;  yet  only 
two  cases  were  seen  in  620  children.  There  is  no  record 
of  atavistic  transmission  of  tuberculosis. 

Eugenic  measures  are  accomplishing  much  in  eliminating 
this  disease.  The  child  very  rarely,  if  ever,  inherits  it. 
Segregate  all  the  tubercular  now  living  and  it  would  be 
wiped  out  entirely,  provided,  of  course,  we  killed  all  the 
tubercle  bacilli  in  our  houses,  food,  etc. 


DEFECTIVES  — WHO  ARE  THE  SANE? 

THE  intense  eugenic  discussion  of  the  day  has 
brought  to  the  public  notice  many  of  our  social 
defects,  some  of  which  our  law-makers  are  com- 
pelled to  meet  in  the  best  way  possible.  When  doctors 
disagree,  it  is  quite  difficult  to  know  what  to  do  with  the 
patient.  Yet,  notwithstanding  the  different  methods  of 
treatment,  practically  all  good  citizens  agree  that  some- 
thing must  be  done  with  our  800,000  defectives:  this  is 
the  number  in  prisons,  insane  asylums,  institutions  for 
feeble-minded,  etc.,  at  the  present  time. 

It  is  estimated  that  in  1913,  500,000  persons  were  com- 
mitted to  penal  institutions  in  the  United  States.  The 
number  of  the  insane  in  the  United  States  for  1913  is 
given  as  200,000.  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsyl- 
vania together  furnished  over  50,000  of  these. 

Who  are  the  defectives?  Have  one  interested  go  to 
the  insane  asylum,  city  poor  house,  county  home  and  a 
psychopathic  hospital;  in  these  places  he  will  find  several 
thousand  insane.  Next  have  him  visit  a  reformatory  and 
an  industrial  farm  and  study  the  hundreds  who  would  not 
obey  their  parents  and  teachers.  Then  tell  him  to  go  to 
a  home  for  feeble-minded  where  there  are  hundreds  who 
have  been  feeble-minded  from  birth.  He  should  then  visit 
the  penitentiary,  workhouse  and  the  county  jail  and  ex- 
plain why  these  institutions  are  so  popular  that  at  times 
it  is  almost  a  case  of  "  standing  room  only."  Having 

looked  carefully  over  those  who  are  clothed  and  fed  at 

98 


DEFECTIVES  —  WHO  ARE  THE  SANE?      99 

the  expense  of  the  tax-payers,  then  have  him  take  a  little 
divergence  and  call  at  the  police  stations  early  in  the 
morning,  and  later  in  the  day  visit  the  Juvenile  Court.  In 
these  places  he  will  notice  many  who  are  being  trained  by 
their  lives  for  a  period  of  rest  and  relaxation  in  the  in- 
stitutions previously  mentioned.  By  the  time  the  inter- 
ested student  of  sociology  has  seen  this  vast  army  pass 
in  review  before  him,  he  will  have  arrived  at  that  part 
of  his  social  journey  when  he  will  feel  like  seating  himself 
in  some  quiet  place  to  ponder  over  the  terrible  things  he 
has  seen. 

Perhaps  he  may  cry  out  in  his  bewilderment,  "  Oh,  Lord ! 
How  long  must  such  things  exist?  Whose  fault  is  it  that 
these  people  are  so  punished?  "  Or  should  he  be  like  the 
Pharisee,  he  may  say,  "  I  thank  thee,  oh  Lord,  that  I 
have  been  better  than  these !  "  Whatever  his  feelings  may 
be,  let  him  hasten  to  resume  his  travels.  Have  him  enter 
the  busy  city  and  glance  carefully  at  those  whom  he  may 
meet  in  the  crowded  streets,  observe  the  penitent  ones  who 
are  entering  churches,  spend  a  few  hours  in  the  various 
grades  of  the  public  schools,  and  then  when  tired  and 
weary  from  having  gazed  into  the  faces  of  the  great 
masses  of  humanity,  have  him  go  home,  study  his  family, 
and  at  last,  before  answering  the  question,  "  Do  any  of 
these  who  are  free  to  do  as  they  please,  look  like  those 
in  any  of  the  institutions  ?  "  Let  him  look  into  the  mirror 
for  a  moment. 

It  is  said  that  over  60  per  cent,  of  those  who  live  the 
life  of  shame  are  feeble-minded.  I  neither  deny  nor 
affirm  the  percentage,  but  verily  believe  that  should  any 
test  applied  to  the  men  who  caused  them  to  become  and 


100  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

continue  such,  just  so  surely  would  many  show  a  marked 
deficiency  in  their  mental  or  moral  storehouse.  There  is 
just  as  great  a  vacuum  in  the  cranial  cavities  of  one  sex 
as  in  the  other. 

Surely  we  are  not  all  insane.  At  least  some  of  us  are 
of  a  reasonable  mind.  How  then  can  we  determine  who 
is  a  defective?  This  article  is  not  a  burlesque  on  all 
efforts  to  separate  the  sheep  and  the  goats,  the  sane  and 
the  insane,  but  rather  an  effort  to  cause  good  earnest 
people  to  pause  and  listen  to  what  the  wild  waves  are 
saying.  It  is  a  serious  thing  to  stigmatize  a  rational 
human  being,  and  is  hereafter  shown,  the  poor  man  with 
no  means  for  defense  has  the  same  right  to  his  liberty  and 
a  good  name  as  his  brother,  who  may  possess  much  of  this 
world's  goods  and  have  great  influence. 

The  story  is  told  of  a  murderer  who,  about  to  be  exe- 
cuted, was  visited  by  an  expert  anthropologist,  who  care- 
fully examined  his  head,  measuring  it  at  every  angle. 
After  the  examination  was  over  the  criminal  asked,  "  What 
do  you  think  of  my  head?  "  The  expert  replied,  "  You 
certainly  show  the  positive  features  and  lines  of  a  de- 
generate." The  murderer  then  said,  "  If  I  had  as  ugly 
a  face  and  misshaped  head  as  you,  I  would  want  to  hang." 
This  story  well  illustrates  the  sad  fact  that  we  all  must 
realize  that  there  is  no  hard,  fast,  normal  standard  by 
which  we  can  measure  sane  and  insane  men. 

Our  defectives  are  classed  as  the  insane,  epileptic,  im- 
becile, idiot,  feeble-minded,  criminal,  etc.  They  are  re- 
quired to  answer  certain  questions ;  they  are  photo- 
graphed, examined  physically  and  then  properly  classified. 
According  to  certain  tests,  children  of  a  certain  age 


DEFECTIVES  — WHO  ARE  THE  SANE?      101 

should  be  able  to  answer  questions  and  show  a  memory 
requiring  a  fixed  amount  of  mentality.  For  each  school 
grade  there  are  fixed  tests.  A  psychologist  had  been 
subjected  by  a  friend  of  his  to  some  of  these  mental  tests 
and  failed  to  make  a  high  average.  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  he  was  much  chagrined  at  his  poor  showing. 

As  already  mentioned,  it  has  been  stated  by  many  in- 
vestigators that  over  50  per  cent,  of  prostitutes  are  be- 
low a  normal  standard.  While  not  disputing  these  con- 
clusions it  certainly  would  be  interesting  to  take  one 
thousand  men  and  a  similar  number  of  women,  as  they 
pass  us  on  a  crowded  street,  and  subject  them  to  the  same 
tests  which  were  applied  to  those  who  were  found  to  be 
mentally  defective.  How  many  of  these  would  have  the 
intelligence  of  a  six-year-old  child,  a  boy  or  girl  of  ten 
or  of  twelve  years  of  age?  If  many  so  examined  should 
be  deficient,  should  we  class  them  as  defectives  if  they  had 
not  shown  any  criminal  tendency  ?  If  we  should  thus  con- 
clude that  many  of  those  on  the  street  are  deficient  al- 
though they  have  not  been  known  to  have  shown  any 
criminal  tendency,  the  next  logical  question  is,  what  deter- 
mines the  criminal?  Now,  a  further  investigation  will 
demonstrate  that  many  criminals  are  intelligent  and  can 
successfully  pass  an  examination  for  his  being  a  perfectly 
rational  being.  What  then  makes  the  criminal?  Is  it 
the  devil  within  the  man  which  cannot  be  tested,  or  is 
it  a  poison  like  small-pox  which  infects  by  contagion? 
Can  we  quarantine  only  a  part  of  those  who  might  be  in- 
fected and  not  those  who  do  the  infecting?  We  must 
begin  on  society. 

Dr.  Arnold  Geselt  is  quoted  in  a  recent  publication  of 


102  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  as  saying,  that  in 
an  ordinary  kindergarten  and  in  the  first  grade  with  a 
combined  enrollment  of  100  pupils  we  may  expect  to 
find  one  child  feeble-minded;  one  child  who  stutters;  two 
or  three  who  seriously  lisp;  another  anemic;  a  badly 
spoilt  child;  another  babyish,  a  year  or  two  retarded  in 
mental  or  moral  growth ;  and  still  another  morally  weak. 
There  will  be  one  "  negative "  child,  passive,  colorless ; 
one  over  sensitive,  nervous  child;  another  distinctly  su- 
perior, eager,  ardent,  imaginative,  sociable.  We  owe 
much  to  men  and  women  who  are  giving  their  time  freely 
to  study  abnormal  conditions,  but  we  must  not  always 
take  their  conclusions  too  seriously.  It  is  a  much  more 
difficult  task  to  interpret  X-ray  pictures  than  it  is 
to  make  them.  It  is  likewise  more  difficult  to  de- 
termine just  what  and  how  much  of  the  conclusions  which 
are  given  us  in  regard  to  defectives  can  be  accepted. 
Again,  allow  me  to  insist  there  is  no  normal  standard  in 
religion,  politics,  morals,  or  in  physical  and  mental  types. 
Take  100  men  at  random  on  the  street,  in  the  shop, 
in  the  bank  or  in  the  church ;  should  we  say  to  them  that 
all  should  conform  to  a  "  standard  type  "  as  determined 
by  a  specialist?  Probably  he  himself  has  indigestion,  has 
a  bad  temper,  believes  in  Christian  Science  and  has  few 
or  no  children.  Practical  sociology  demands  a  reasonable 
consideration  of  the  problems. 

We  are  told  that  both  the  insane  and  the  genius  have 
abnormal  brains.  We  see  genius  and  insanity  in  the  same 
family.  Genius  is  said  to  be  both  a  product  and  a  cause 
of  degeneracy.  Many  men  of  genius  are  known  to  have 
been  degenerates.  Would  the  world  be  better  had  these 


DEFECTIVES  —  WHO  ARE  THE  SANE?      103 

men  been  treated  as  we  now  treat  our  defectives?  If  so, 
should  we  consider  in  the  same  way  a  genius  to-day? 

A  clipping  credited  to  the  London  Saturday  Review 
says,  "  Most  of  the  talk  at  conferences  of  doctors,  sani- 
tary 'experts,'  eugenics  enthusiasts,  lunacy  specialists  is 
widely  and  obviously  fabulous,  though  in  apparently  un- 
impeachable figures.  One  must  have  first  some  definition 
of  physical  defect,  moral  flightiness  and  weakness  of  in- 
tellect. Almost  every  great  man  one  can  think  of  would 
be  condemned  by  some  congress  or  other.  It  is  just  as 
easy  to  prove  a  steady  advance  in  physique,  intellect  and 
character  as  it  is  to  satisfy  the  nation  that  it  is  chiefly 
made  up  of  puny  and  vicious  imbeciles." 

Why  is  this  treatment  of  the  defective  necessary?  The 
answer  is  that  society  demands  it.  These  defective  per- 
sons and  their  progeny  are  a  menace  and  expense  to  good 
society.  Now,  does  society  care?  How  many  men  in  the 
best  homes,  men  with  great  fortunes  whose  power  is  felt 
far  and  wide,  do  more  real  harm  to  society  than  many  of 
our  so-called  degenerates?  Granting  it  to  be  true,  that 
the  idle  or  the  cruel  rich  are  also  harmful  to  society,  does 
not  deny  society  the  right  to  protect  itself  from  the  bur- 
den of  the  feeble-minded,  etc.,  constantly  thrust  upon  us. 
How  best  to  contend  with  the  other  part  of  this  problem 
which  has  to  do  with  oppression  by  the  capitalist,  with 
vice,  etc.,  is  one  which  must  also  be  solved. 

In  the  United  States  each  year  there  are  several  hun- 
dred murders.  The  murderer  is  classed  as  a  degenerate 
by  many.  But  the  murderer  as  a  rule  is  not  of  a  class 
considered  dangerous  to  society.  He  takes  a  life,  for 
which  he  is  generally  sorry.  Few  murders  are  premedi- 


104  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

tated.  Many  would  like  to  kill,  but  for  fear  of  punish- 
ment, present  or  future,  do  not.  You  may  say  that  the 
murderer  should  be  punished  because  he  drinks,  because 
he  was  drunk  at  the  time.  I  do  not  deny  the  statement. 
Is  he  the  only  one  who  gets  drunk?  Who  wants  him  to 
drink  and  who  profits  by  his  drinking?  Hundreds  of 
working  men  are  being  discharged  by  their  employers  be- 
cause they  drink.  This  is  a  good  thing  for  society,  but 
do  the  employers  drink? 

Do  any  "  big  men  "  get  drunk  ?  Go  to  their  clubs  and 
see.  After  too  much  indulgence  they  are  cared  for,  put 
to  bed,  taken  home  in  taxi-cabs  and  limousines.  These 
same  men  might  have  become  dangerous  with  the  same 
amount  of  liquor  had  they  not  been  guarded  by  their 
friends.  You  may  say  that  the  murderer  was  jealous. 
Does  his  wealthy  brother  ever  become  jealous?  If  not, 
he  is  probably  able  to  have  an  affinity  or  two ;  the  privilege 
of  the  rich.  Or  you  may  say  that  the  murderer  is  insane. 
Do  people  with  plenty  become  insane?  How  much  does 
it  cost  the  State  to  prove  it,  or  the  family  to  show  that 
it  is  not  so? 

Now,  if  we  determine  defectives  in  the  same  way  as  we 
classify  the  genius,  who  has  a  part  of  his  brain  hyperactive 
at  the  expense  of  other  parts,  making  an  unbalanced 
mind,  just  so  much  must  we  say  that  the  defectives  in- 
clude all  those  who  have  diseased  society  and  leave  bad 
posterity.  In  which  connection  let  us  not  forget  that  this 
great  land  of  liberty  has  caused  old  Europe  to  give  of 
her  best  sons  and  daughters  in  the  belief  that  justice 
would  be  the  same  to  one  and  all.  Should  all  be  weighed 
in  the  same  balance,  even  the  idle  rich  with  the  idle  poor? 


DEFECTIVES  —  WHO  ARE  THE  SANE?      105 

Those  found  wanting  in  intelligence  must  pay  the  penalty, 
for  it  has  been  said  that  "  the  fathers  have  eaten  sour 
grapes  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge  " ;  also, 
"  as  is  the  mother,  so  is  her  daughter." 

Right  is  might,  and  although  the  present  generation  is 
witnessing  rapid  and  powerful  twists  of  the  old  devil's 
tail,  yet  he  still  holds  sufficient  grip  on  the  running  gear 
of  our  civic  and  state  organizations  to  permit  many  of 
the  bondholders  to  forswear  taxes  or  to  prove  alibis  against 
any  assertion  regarding  an  incident  containing  evi- 
dence of  a  lack  of  sanity  on  the  part  of  the  defendant. 
Shall  our  reason  be  without  result?  The  natural  course 
of  natural  events  will  be  that  ere  long  things  will  right 
themselves.  In  the  meantime  let  us  improve  where  and 
when  we  may. 

Having  learned  that  there  are  over  three  hundred  thou- 
sand defectives  in  the  United  States  who  are  a  burden  upon 
society,  and  who  if  allowed  to  marry  and  procreate  will 
bring  forth  thousands  equally  as  bad  or  worse,  the  ques- 
tion of  remedy  is  before  us.  Sociologists  are  quite  agreed 
that  the  good  of  society  is  paramount  to  the  desires  of 
the  individual.  It  is  for  this  reason  we  have  our  deten- 
tion camps  and  quarantine  for  immigrants,  that  we  quar- 
antine those  about  us  who  may  be  infected  with  small- 
pox, scarlet  fever,  etc.,  frequently  to  the  discomfort  and 
financial  loss  of  the  individual,  family  or  property  owner. 
These  are  really  good  eugenic  attempts  to  prevent  the 
disintegration  of  society  from  the  physical  standpoint. 
The  order  from  Scripture :  "  If  thine  eye  offend  thee, 
pluck  it  out,  etc.,"  is  particularly  fulfilled.  We  make  one 
sad  mistake  in  much  of  this  work ;  we  spare  the  individual 


106 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


and  spoil  the  community.  We  are  prone  to  make  the  old 
diseased  trees  of  society,  grown  in  any  old  soil,  in  any 
climate,  bear  good  fruit  by  removing  the  imperfect  apples, 
peaches,  cherries  and  quinces,  in  order  to  make  the  tree 
look  better;  but  the  tree  still  bears  imperfect  fruit.  We 
permit  the  "  yellows  "  of  society  to  reproduce.  The  Gov- 
ernment orders  all  trees  affected  with  "  yellows  "to  be  cut 
down  and  burned.  We  must  likewise  treat  human  defec- 
tives. We  need  not  cut  down  and  burn,  but  we  must 
"  remove  " ;  but  this  removal  must  consist  in  preventing 
these  defectives  from  reproducing  their  kind. 

There  are  two  methods  of  preventing  the  progeny  of 
these  defectives  from  being  a  burden  upon  us:  (1)  segre- 
gation; (2)  sex-mutilation;  both  of  which  removes  their 
progeny  from  society  by  not  permitting  such  children  to 
be  born.  Segregation  is  the  ideal  method  if  sufficient 
suitable  institutions  could  be  provided,  and  the  defectives 
detained  until  positively  cured  or  past  child-bearing  period. 
Segregation  is  very  expensive,  and  to  detain  all  defectives 
for  so  long  a  time  would  be  a  severe  burden  upon  the  tax- 
payers. Segregation  of  all  defectives  even  until  the  time 
of  the  death  of  each  individual,  although  so  expensive  at 
the  time,  would  be  very  cheap  in  the  end.  If  we  could 
eliminate  all  such  by  this  treatment,  but  such  cannot  be 
accomplished,  because  alcoholism,  disease,  etc.,  would  re- 
plenish the  ranks,  we  would  soon  again  be  in  a  condi- 
tion as  bad,  partially  at  least,  as  before  we  began  our 
treatment.  Another  disadvantage  of  segregation  is  that 
on  account  of  "  rights  "  of  the  individual,  claims  of  the 
family,  etc.,  he  is  set  free,  may  marry,  have  a  family  or 
produce  illegitimate  children,  and  our  children  then  have 


DEFECTIVES  —  WHO  ARE  THE  SANE?      107 

these  to  care  for. 

Sex-mutilation  includes  either  removal  of  organs  or  a 
less  severe  treatment  called  sterilization.  The  objection  to 
these  mutilations  are  generally  sentimental.  Sex-organs, 
they  tell  us,  are  sacred  and  must  not  be  interfered  with. 
Man's  nature  would  be  changed  by  such  operations,  hence 
mutilations  must  not  be  thought  of.  For  the  sake  of 
argument,  I  will  say  that  some  form  of  sex-mutilation 
should  be  practiced  on  every  positive  defective  as  well  as 
on  many  tubercular,  chronic  drunkards,  etc.  It  is  the 
ideal  treatment.  Children  cannot  be  the  result  of  mar- 
riage or  illicit  intercourse.  Removal  of  organs  can  affect 
to  a  certain  degree  the  nature  of  the  boy  or  girl.  The 
younger  the  person,  the  greater  the  effect  of  such  re- 
moval. Sterilization  in  the  male  is  a  trivial  operation, 
and  one  not  dangerous  in  the  female.  There  is  no  change 
in  the  nature  of  the  individual.  Our  sex  organs  are  given 
us  for  procreation,  you  say.  Do  you  believe  it,  and  does 
the  present  generation  prove  it?  What  about  our  Infant 
Mortality  and  Race  Suicide? 

Why  not  look  truth  in  the  face  ?  Thousands  of  parents 
will  not  have  children.  Why?  Many  desire  children  and 
are  not  blessed  with  such.  Why?  Listen!  Almost  as 
many  cases  of  childless  families  are  the  result  of  the  man 
being  sterile  as  the  woman.  Why  ?  Disease  has  destroyed 
these  organs  we  say  are  sacred  and  must  not  be  injured. 
This  is  but  half  the  truth  and  not  the  saddest  part  of 
marital  woes.  Again,  many  wives  are  rendered  sterile  and 
operations  must  be  performed  on  account  of  disease  ac- 
quired after  marriage.  Occasionally  women  must  die  as 
the  result  of  social  standards  and  sentiments. 


108 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


Furthermore  records  show  that  there  are  one-fourth  as 
many  cases  of  abortion  as  there  are  children  born.  Abor- 
tions kill  many  women.  It  sterilizes  thousands.  Remem- 
ber most  of  these  are  self-sterilization.  Do  not  forget  that 
man  self-sterilizes  himself.  Woman  self-sterilizes  herself. 
Each  sterilizes  the  other.  These  are  nature's  efforts  at 
preservation  of  a  good  race;  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 
Most  of  our  prostitutes  are  sterile  as  a  result  of  disease. 
Who  dares  then  to  talk  of  sentiment  and  sacredness  of 
sex  organs  to-day?  Let  him  but  visit  our  hospitals  and 
see  the  mutilations  which  are  daily  made  necessary  on  our 
women  on  account  of  venereal  disease. 

If  there  is  any  one  thing  which  should  be  given  as  a  good 
reason  for  the  votes  of  good  women,  it  is  the  preventable 
sex  mutilation.  Had  the  men  to  submit  to  pain  and  re- 
moval of  sex  organs  as  do  the  women,  there  would  be  such 
a  cry  for  a  special  session  of  legislatures  as  the  country 
never  saw,  even  in  a  money  panic  or  a  call  for  war. 
Venereal  diseases  would  then  be  treated  as  are  small-pox 
and  the  plague. 

Two  arguments  are  made  against  sterilization  which 
must  be  mentioned.  One  is  that  the  sterilized  man  would 
be  free  to  have  intercourse  without  fear  of  children.  Does 
he  fear  to-day?  The  other  is  that  many  married  men 
would  be  glad  to  be  sterilized,  knowing  that  they  would 
have  no  children.  Such  men  should  not  have  children  and 
society  would  be  the  better  therefor. 

Let  us  hope  that  sterilization  will  be  the  treatment  of 
certain  criminals,  diseased  and  defectives  in  future  years. 
Removal  of  organs  should  be  reserved  for  severe  forms 
of  perversion.  We  are  not  yet  educated  to  the  necessity. 


DEFECTIVES  — WHO  ARE  THE  SANE?      109 

But,  to-day,  education  must  be  toward  the  removal  of 
defectives  and  toward  a  rational  treatment.  To-day  in 
six  states,  certain  criminals,  insane  and  feeble-minded  in 
institutions  are  being  sterilized. 

Finally,  should  it  be  found  in  after  years  that  any  of 
these  who  might  be  sterilized  by  a  clean  surgical  operation 
(not  by  disease)  should  have  become  sufficiently  strong  in 
mind  to  be  granted  the  privilege  of  parenthood,  a  second 
operation  could  repair  the  damage  done.  This  vision 
would  do  no  harm  and  much  good.  This  view  is  endorsed 
by  many  of  our  best  medical  men,  clergymen  and  states- 
men, even  to-day. 

Get  in  the  procession  at  once !  Do  not  hang  on  to  the 
tail-end.  Seven  years  ago  people  laughed  when  I  men- 
tioned anything  about  eugenics.  Now,  every  organiza- 
tion must  talk  about  it.  Get  in ! 

It  must  be  granted  that  the  advocates  of  sex-mutila- 
tions have  very  little  except  theory  to  support  them  in 
their  contention  that  no  evil  results  can  fallow,  for  so  far 
there  are  not  sufficient  data  to  justify  an  intelligent 
opinion  as  to  the  end  effects  of  sterilizing  operations  upon 
either  the  individual  himself  or  society  at  large. 

Indeed,  sentimental  reasons  for  segregation  in  training 
schools  are  in  themselves  justification  of  the  policy.  Ac- 
cording to  Prof.  Johnstone  of  the  school  at  Vineland, 
N.  J.,  these  are  threefold:  First,  the  privilege  which 
society  should  be  granted  to  remove  from  public  gaze  the 
idiot  and  low-grade  imbeciles,  who  are,  as  a  rule,  extremely 
disagreeable  or  even  loathsome  in  appearance ;  the  in- 
herent right  of  every  child,  whatever  may  be  his  mentality, 
to  have  such  education  as  he  is  capable  of  receiving ;  third, 


110  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

the  right  of  the  normal  members  of  the  families  of  the 
feeble-minded  to  live  their  lives  unhampered  by  the  worrj 
and  care  which  the  presence  of  such  an  unfortunate  con- 
stantly imposes  upon  them.  .  .  .  The  value  to  the  com- 
munity of  the  unfortunate  classes  is  not  solely  the  keej 
ing  alive  of  the  virtues  and  charity,  but  likewise  to  render 
an  actual  service  in  the  advancement  of  learning." —  Edi- 
torial, New  York  Medical  Journal. 

Dr.  J.  Madison  Taylor  answers  the  above,  a  part  of 
which  follows : 

"  Abundant  and  convincing  reasons  are  on  record 
favor  of  mercifully  and  scientifically  checking  the  propa- 
gation of  the  unfit.  Now  and  then  asexualization  is  op- 
posed. Legislation  is  too  often  thwarted.  The  only 
forceful  reasons  urged  against  this  eminently  humanitarian 
and  economic  procedure,  however,  seem  based  on  shallow 
sentimentality ;  on  pleas  for  individual  freedom  to  do  as 
any  one  may  choose  or  desire  .  .  .  painful  is  it  to  con- 
template a  state  of  society  which  invites  the  blackest 
horrors  to  fall  on  innocent  members,  and  is  willing  to 
protect  itself  only  after  the  blow  has  fallen.  There  re- 
main to  mention  a  few  degenerate  scale,  so  like  unto  no 
being  made  in  God's  image,  that  they  are  a  burden  to 
themselves,  a  strain  upon  their  ancestry,  a  blight  upon 
the  good  green  earth,  a  perpetual  horror  and  reproach 
to  all  who  see  them,  cumbering  the  ground.  They  are 
lower  than  the  beasts,  far  lower  than  the  mangiest  cur, 
the  wretchedest  abandoned  cat.  Animated  by  archaic 
notions  of  sentimentality,  morbid  softheartedness,  over- 
wrought, vitiated  philanthropy  and  blind  to  teratological 
truths,  there  are  those  who  insist  that  these  derelicts  shall 


DEFECTIVES  —  WHO  ARE  THE  SANE?      Ill 

be  permitted  to  come  freely  in  contact  with  those  of  the 
opposite  sex,  even  encouraged  to  marry  and  beget  children 
worse  than  they." 

"  If  New  York  State  is  already  providing  for  33,000  in- 
sane in  public  institutions  it  should  be  able  to  provide  for 
15,000  feeble-minded. 

Why  is  it  that  the  State  has  provided  institutions  for 
only  5,000  feeble-minded?  It  is  because  of  the  popular 
superstition  in  the  community  that  the  insane  are  danger- 
ous while  the  feeble-minded  are  harmless.  We  are  learn- 
ing at  last  that  the  feeble-minded  boy  and  girl  are  three 
times  more  of  a  menace  to  the  community  than  the  senile 
dement  and  the  mild  chronic  insane  in  our  hospitals. 

In  answer  to  an  inquiry,  Dr.  H.  Goddard  of  Vineland, 
N.  J.,  stated  that  the  feeble-minded  girl  is  vastly  more 
dangerous  to  the  community  than  the  feeble-minded  boy. 
The  reason  for  this  statement  is  that  the  heredity  of 
feeble-mindedness  for  the  most  part  comes  from  the  feeble- 
minded girl.  Not  only  is  this  true  but  investigation  made 
in  New  Jersey  has  demonstrated  that  the  feeble-minded 
woman  is  twice  as  prolific  as  the  normal  woman.  This 
arises  partly  from  the  fact  that  the  feeble-minded  woman 
is  unable  to  protect  herself,  partly  from  the  fact  that  she 
is  not  affected  by  the  moral  restraints  or  the  regard  for 
consequences  which  restrain  the  normal  woman." —  Hast- 
ings H.  Hart,  LL.D.,  Director  Department  of  Child-Help- 
ing Russell  Sage  Foundation. 

The  above  studies  explain  quite  conclusively  the  cause 
of  degeneracy,  whether  it  be  in  form  of  epilepsy,  imbecil- 
ity, idiocy  or  feeble-mindedness.  All  agree  that  children 
of  such  are  still  worse  than  their  parents.  There  is  no 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


case  on  record  in  which  the  children  of  parents,  both  of 
whom  were  feeble-minded,  were  not  feeble-minded  or  ha 
a  worse  form  of  degeneracy.  Such  births  must  certainly 
be  prevented  in  the  interests  of  society  as  well  as  from  an 
economic  standpoint.  How  then  shall  we  prevent  the 
multiplication  of  the  unfit? 

The  data  of  the  New  Jersey  State  Village  for  Epilej 
tics  contain  records  of  26,422  persons  in  the  pedigree 
studied,  10,233  of  whom  are  classified.  Of  those  classi- 
fied, 28  per  cent,  are  normal,  9  per  cent,  epileptic,  5  per 
cent,  feeble-minded,  2  per  cent,  insane,  7  per  cent,  alco- 
holic, 9  per  cent,  tubercular,  19  per  cent,  died  before  two 
years  of  age,  6  per  cent,  died  between  two  and  four  years 
of  age. 

In  33  per  cent,  of  the  cases  studied,  there  is  a  history 
of  epilepsy  in  one  or  both  sides  of  the  family.  In  53  per 
cent,  there  is  a  history  of  a  neurotic  taint  or  feeble-mind- 
edness  in  one  or  both  sides  of  the  family  with  no  history 
of  epilepsy.  There  are  about  400  epileptics  in  this  home 
with  an  annual  expense  of  over  $200,000. 


MIND  AND  BODY 

ALTHOUGH  it  is  not  possible  for  the  developing 
child  to  be  marked  by  maternal  impressions,  we 
must  recognize  the  great  influence  our  emotions, 
desires,  likes  and  dislikes  have  on  the  physical  side  of  our 
bodies.  Mental  impressions  for  augmentation  or  inhibi- 
tion of  our  various  activities  are  both  eugenic  and  agenic, 
according  as  the  effect  is  good  or  bad.  Dr.  Crile  in  his 
well-known  article  on  Anoci-Association  says :  "  What- 
ever the  origin  of  fear  may  be,  its  phenomena  are  ap- 
parently due  to  a  stimulation  of  all  the  organs  and  tissues 
that  add  to  the  efficiency  of  a  physical  struggle  for  self- 
preservation  through  the  motor  mechanism  and  an  inhibi- 
tion of  the  function  of  the  organs  that  do  not  participate, 
the  non-combatants  so  to  speak.  We  fear  not  in  our 
hearts  alone,  not  in  our  brains  alone,  not  in  our  viscera 
alone ;  fear  influences  every  organ  and  tissue,  each  organ 
and  tissue  is  stimulated  or  inhibited  according  to  its  use 
or  hindrance  in  the  physical  struggle  for  existence."  We 
might  well  say  that  whether  we  eat  or  drink,  whether 
we  run  or  remain  seated,  whether  we  are  joyful  or  sad, 
these  things  influence  our  bodies,  lives  and  consequently 
our  progeny. 

Most  physicians  agree  that  there  is  little  or  no  evidence 
for  a  belief  in  maternal  marking  of  the  child.  Many  cases 
are  seen  where  markings  occur  on  the  bodies  of  the  chil- 
dren, the  locations  of  which  correspond  to  parts  injured 

113 


114  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

by  the  mother.  These  are  simply  cases  of  interestin 
coincidence.  The  power  of  the  mind  over  the  body  is  ce 
tainly  great,  but  such  effect  is  always  made  manifest 
directly  through  the  nervous  system.  There  is  no  nerve 
connection  between  the  mother  and  the  child  at  any  tim< 
during  its  development.  Many  persons  even  assert  tha 
a  child  was  marked  because  the  father  was  injured  during 
the  period  of  child  development.  The  unreasonableness 
of  such  a  statement  is  evident  to  any  intelligent  person. 
Why  not  claim  that  markings  on  a  young  chick  were  due 
to  impressions  of  the  mother  hen  during  the  incubation  of 
the  egg.  If  nature  would  mark  children  on  account  of 
fear  or  injury  on  the  part  of  the  mother,  practically  all 
children  would  be  so  marked.  The  scriptural  account  of 
Jacob  increasing  his  herds  by  maternal  impressions  is  of 
no  more  importance  from  a  scientific  standpoint  than  is 
that  of  Jonah  and  the  whale. 

Forel  believes  that  two-thirds  of  all  persons  who  are  ill 
recover  without  medicine,  and  that  one-half  of  the  re- 
mainder do  not  care  for  a  physician,  or  will  die  regardless 
of  treatment,  leaving  but  one-sixth  of  those  ill  who  can 
be  cured  by  the  physician.  The  effect  of  the  mind  over 
the  body  has  a  scientific  side ;  this  phase  of  the  question  will 
be  very  brief,  attention  being  given  to  the  practical  side 
of  this  question.  As  a  result  of  many  experiments,  it  is 
quite  convincing  that  the  mind  and  the  body  are  one  and  the 
same  thing,  and  that  a  muscular  contraction  and  a  thought 
are  but  different  manifestations  of  the  one  and  the  same 
entity. 

We  are  much  confused  by  the  terms  spirit,  breath  of 
life,  mind  and  body.  It  is  essential  to  remember  how  the 


MIND  AND  BODY  115 

body  is  developed  from  two  microscopic  germ  cells.  At 
an  early  period  of  the  development,  life  is  made  manifest 
by  the  movement  of  the  blood,  by  contraction  of  the 
heart,  etc.  We  must  leave  it  to  the  theologian  to  tell 
us  when  the  IMMORTAL  .SPIRIT  entered  this  body  and 
whether  this  spirit  is  synonymous  with  "  the  breath  of 
life."  As  far  as  the  mind  is  concerned,  I  am  satisfied 
that  a  careful  study  of  comparative  physiology  and 
psychology  can  explain  the  evolution  of  what  we  call 
mind  or  brain  power,  to  be  but  the  highest  developed  form 
of  matter.  Nerve  tissue  is  the  last  tissue  to  be  developed 
and  the  first  to  degenerate.  It  correlates  the  various 
parts  of  the  animal  organism.  It  connects  the  animal 
with  the  external  world,  is  the  seat  of  our  intellect  and 
makes  us  a  responsible  being. 

Did  we  dare  enter  the  mysteries  of  unsatisfactory 
psychology,  we  might  discuss  the  two  or  more  natures  of 
the  average  man.  We  might  grasp  at  the  explanations 
of  these  learned  "  ologists,"  as  to  when  we  were  ourself 
in  the  natural  mind  and  when  we  presented  a  "  different 
ego  "  because  the  subconscious  or  the  subliminal  mind  was 
then  the  active  force.  Such  studies  may  seem  fanciful, 
but  they  present  actual  workings  of  these  wonderful  bodies 
of  ours.  Hypnotic  suggestion  can  compel  a  man  to  as- 
sume an  entirely  different  nature  from  the  one  by  which 
he  is  known  and  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  believe  that 
each  of  us  is  daily  being  affected  by  suggestions,  not  in- 
tentionally hypnotic,  which  can  alter  our  personality. 
Yea,  even  by  auto  suggestion,  we  hypnotize  ourselves, 
commit  overt  acts  which  later  compel  us  to  pause  and 
wonder  why  we  did  this  or  that.  All  our  senses,  emotions 


116  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

and  passions  are  by  various  stimuli,  many  of  which  are 
external  to  the  body. 

From  a  biological  standpoint,  however,  it  makes  but 
little  difference  whether  mind  and  body  are  the  same  or 
not ;  it  does  concern  us  whether  we  can  cause  illness  by 
some  manifestations  of  mental  activity  or  whether  we  can 
remove  disease  by  concentration  of  thought.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  reasonable  person  that 
many  of  the  ills  with  which  we  are  afflicted  are  self-imposed 
by  the  conditions  of  our  mental  state.  The  effects  of 
anger,  grief,  pain,  etc.,  upon  the  body  are  very  apparent ; 
yet  they  are  not  appreciated.  It  is  quite  possible  to 
produce  disease  which  will  confine  the  victim  in  bed  for 
years  by  suggestion.  A  half  dozen  persons  can  suggest 
to  Mrs.  A.  that  she  looks  badly  and  that  she  should  con- 
sult a  physician,  with  the  result  that  she  will  actually  be- 
come ill  and  go  to  bed.  I  recall  a  visit  to  me  by  one  of 
our  business  men.  His  entrance  into  the  office  was  indeed 
pathetic.  After  a  careful  examination  he  was  told  that 
nothing  wrong  could  be  found  and  the  diagnosis  was 
"  business,"  "  tired  "  and  "  worry."  He  immediately  be- 
came a  new  being  and  said,  "  Let  us  go  to  the  ball  game." 
John  Kendrick  Bangs  in  one  of  his  books  tells  of  the 
young  medical  student  who  had  every  disease  in  the  book 
except  housemaid's  knee.  The  charlatans  know  this  quite 
well  and  make  use  of  it  when  submitting  a  list  of  symp- 
toms to  their  prospective  victims. 

Dr.  Hunter,  the  great  anatomist,  stated  that  the  cause 
of  the  heart  disease  from  which  he  suffered  was  due  en- 
tirely to  a  fit  of  anger.  He  died  in  one  of  these  pas- 
sions. There  is  no  pain  so  severe  but  what  some  emotion 


MIND  AND  BODY  117 

can  at  least  temporarily  inhibit  this  sense.  Accidents,  so 
severe  as  crushed  limbs,  etc.,  do  not  cause  the  mental  suf- 
fering and  outburst  of  pain  that  we  see  in  one  who  is 
having  a  large  molar  tooth  extracted,  or  is  having  a  small 
cut  made  in  his  skin.  How  many  persons  could  suffer  an 
accident  to  happen  and  know  of  it  a  few  hours  before  it 
occurs  without  the  greatest  mental  anguish? 

I  firmly  believe  that  a  large  amount  of  the  wrath  and 
rage  of  this  world  is  due  to  certain  conditions  of  our  body, 
which  act  as  stimuli  to  the  centers  which  produce  these 
outbursts.  It  is  more  important  for  the  young  girl  to 
learn  how  to  cook  and  be  tidy  than  it  is  for  her  to  speak 
French  or  be  an  artist  in  many  lines.  Alcohol  has  rightly 
been  accused  of  being  the  cause  of  many  wife  beatings,  but 
did  you  ever  stop  to  inquire  as  to  the  cause  of  those  not 
due  to  alcohol?  Irritable  temper  is  given  as  the  prin- 
cipal cause.  But  why  the  irritable  temper?  Is  it  a 
natural  part  of  man's  nature?  By  no  means,  a  torpid 
liver,  poor  digestion,  overwork,  worry  and  many  other 
ailments  are  the  cause  of  many  a  crime  and  much  misery. 
It  is  contended  by  many  that  our  better  or  baser  emo- 
tions, our  most  loftiest  ideas  or  sensual  passions  may  be 
stimulated  by  the  rhythmic  vibrations  of  strings  and  reeds 
in  musical  instruments. 

"  The  exaltation  of  victory  makes  wounded  soldiers 
oblivious  of  pain,  and  the  depression  of  defeat  increases 
mortality.  If  a  cat  is  frightened  for  ten  or  fifteen  min- 
utes by  a  barking  dog,  a  sample  of  its  blood  will  make 
strips  of  certain  muscles  relax  when  they  are  immersed  in 
it,  though  such  a  portion  of  blood  had  no  effect  on  them 
before  the  emotional  disturbance.  Frightened  rabbits 


118  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

show  almost  complete  prostration,  and  their  brain  cells, 
in  contrast  with  those  of  normal  animals,  take  a  deeper 
stain  from  certain  chemicals,  and  their  size  and  shape  are 
strikingly  altered.  Finally,  if  an  individual  is  placed  in 
a  circuit  with  a  delicate  galvanometer  and  made  to  laugh, 
to  feel  sad,  or  is  suddenly  surprised,  there  will  be  move- 
ments in  the  instrument  indicating  the  passage  of  small 
electric  currents.  Such  interesting  scientific  facts  as 
these,  and  many  others,  make  it  clearly  evident  that  emo- 
tions are  something  more  than  mere  states  of  mind." 
F.  W.  Eastman,  in  Harper's  Magazine. 

"  But  with  an  angry  wafture  of  your  hand 
Gave  sign  for  me  to  leave  you.     So  I  did; 
Fearing  to  strengthen  that  impatience 
Which  seemed  too  much  enkindled  and  withal 
Hoping  it  but  an  effect  of  humor, 
Which  sometime  hath  its  hour  with  every  man. 
It  will  not  let  you  eat,  nor  talk  nor  sleep, 
And  could  it  work  so  much  upon  your  shape 
As  it  hath  prevailed  on  your  condition, 
I  should  not  know  you,  Brutus." 

In  the  above  lines  Portia  censures  Brutus  for  his  con- 
duct. This  is  a  very  positive  demonstration  of  what 
man's  mind  will  do  to  his  every  action ;  to  his  digestion  as 
well  as  in  forming  plots  against  his  enemies. 

No  doubt  we  will  agree  that  the  destinies  of  nations  are 
determined  by  the  various  emotions.  Worlds  have  been 
conquered  and  nations  crushed  by  love  and  hatred.  Man 
is  not  himself  when  under  the  powerful  influence  of  these 
great  passions,  if  they  be  not  under  control.  They  de- 


MIND  AND  BODY  119 

termine  riches,  poverty,  strength,  weakness,  bravery,  fear, 
our  homes,  and  the  nature  and  future  of  our  posterity. 
If  then,  the  negative  attributes  of  our  lives  act  as  a 
hindrance  to  race  improvement,  direct  efforts  must  be 
directed  to  such  culture  as  will  make  man  a  stable  mental 
being.  Fear  of  poverty  leads  to  many  crimes ;  fear  of 
death  is  a  serious  handicap  to  a  successful  operation; 
fear  of  failure  in  examination  is  making  wrecks  of  many 
school  children ;  fear  of  results  with  its  consequent  worry 
must  be  regarded  as  the  great  factor  influencing  much  of 
the  physical  and  moral  disease  seen  to-day. 

We  must  be  satisfied  that  a  large  percentage  of  the 
cases  of  illness  will  recover  without  medicine;  furthermore, 
physicians  recognize  that  certain  ailments  are  imaginary. 
These  statements  being  true,  what  shall  the  patient  or  the 
member  of  the  family  responsible  for  the  care  of  the 
patient  do?  Shall  we  advise  them  to  wait  for  nature  to 
produce  a  cure,  or  tell  them  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
disease  and  let  them  die?  The  duty  of  all  concerned 
should  be  clear.  Reputable  physicians  will  declare  whether 
a  person  is  really  ill.  You  may  say  that  many  physicians 
will  err  in  their  diagnosis,  also  after  a  long  period  of  ill- 
ness many  a  case  will  recover  without  medicine.  I  grant 
this ;  in  such  cases  recovery  is  due  to  one  of  two  reasons 
—  either  the  patient  has  been  ill  and  nature  has  asserted 
itself  and  produced  a  cure,  or  the  patient  has  not  been 
ill,  but  lacked  the  will  power  to  throw  off  the  shackles  of 
a  disordered  imagination. 

In  some  ailments,  drugs  to  a  great  extent  produce 
their  effect  upon  the  bodies  of  those  sick,  according  as  the 
physician  believes  in  his  treatment  and  the  patient  has 


120  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

faith  in  the  physician.  In  an  old  discussion  in  one  of 
the  Oriental  tales,  we  find  these  interesting  truths :  "  Dis- 
cuss the  symptoms  of  disease  and  you  will  tremble  fearing 
death ;  but  turn  your  attention  to  the  wonders  of  various 
remedies  and  you  will  think  of  life  immortal."  In  another 
place  we  find  a  treatment  which  was  frequently  found 
efficacious :  "  For  skin  disease,  take  three  of  Aristotle's 
Categories,  two  metaphysical  degrees,  14  lines  of  Homer's 
Iliad,  one  line  from  the  letters  of  Abbe  St.  Cyran. 
Write  these  on  a  piece  of  paper,  fold,  tie  in  a  ribbon  and 
carry  around  your  neck.  A  cure  will  result." 

Dr.  A.  became  convinced  that  the  suffering  of  Mrs.  B. 
was  entirely  imaginary,  and  although  she  had  been  unable 
to  get  out  of  bed  for  several  months,  he  decided  upon  a 
novel  method  of  treatment.  The  doctor  got  a  few  mice 
and  when  the  patient  was  not  looking  he  let  them  loose 
upon  the  bed  and  upon  the  floor.  The  family  was  con- 
vinced by  the  way  she  jumped  out  of  bed  and  ran  round 
the  room  that  her  weakness  was  curable.  Physicians  are 
continually  using  similar  but  more  pleasant  methods  in 
treating  such  cases. 

Some  persons  are  so  aberrant  in  their  mental  condi- 
tions that  they  can  enjoy  certain  pleasures  only  by  in- 
juring themselves  or  afflicting  injury  upon  others.  How 
many  wives  expect  their  husbands  to  beat  them  merci- 
fully in  order  that  their  devotion  may  be  shown?  This 
actually  occurs  in  some  countries.  How  many  laugh  at 
the  idea  of  taking  bread  pills?  But  I  venture  to  say  that 
most  persons  have  taken  inert  substances  faithfully  and 
then  been  cured  as  a  result  of  the  faith  necessary.  The 
physician  recognizes  that  at  certain  times  drugs  are  harm- 


MIND  AND  BODY  121 

f ul  and  that  the  patient  would  be  offended  were  he  told 
that  his  disease  is  not  real.  Many  a  patient  is  relieved 
of  her  pain  and  goes  to  sleep  as  a  result  of  a  hypodermic 
injection  of  sterile  water.  She  believed  she  was  getting 
morphine  and  knew  its  value  to  relieve  pain. 

There  was  much  virtue  in  the  discordant  noises  of  the 
"  old  Indian  doctor,"  who  beat  upon  his  kettle  drum  to 
restore  the  sick.  The  history  of  witches  in  the  early 
colonial  times  shows  the  state  of  mind  which  can  be  pro- 
duced by  allowing  it  to  be  concentrated  upon  such  things. 
Have  you  ever  witnessed  the  religious  exercises  of  any 
of  the  fanatical  sects?  I  have  seen  persons  so  worked 
up  that  they  would  jump  over  the  seats,  put  out  lights 
and  cry  out  in  the  greatest  agony  to  be  rid  of  the  devil 
within  them.  Medical  men  class  as  a  form  of  chorea  or 
St.  Vitus'  dance,  the  so-called  religious  sects  of  the  Holy 
Rollers,  Jumpers,  etc.  By  that  is  meant  that  they  are 
actually  diseased  in  body,  hence  their  form  of  worship, 
which  certainly  is  very  harmful  in  its  influence. 

Is  it  possible  for  the  will  power  to  conquer  all  forms  of 
disease?  This  question  has  called  forth  much  discussion. 
So  greatly,  in  fact,  are  people  interested  that  we  have 
large  sects  whose  existence  is  based  upon  the  power  of  the 
mind  or  the  influence  of  prayer  to  cure  disease.  As  stated 
before,  many  of  the  persons  cured  would  have  recovered 
and  many  were  not  ill.  Have  we  forgotten  the  thousands 
who  were  treated  by  the  divine  Dowie,  now  deceased,  and 
his  sect  almost  forgotten  in  a  few  years  ?  It  can  be  stated 
emphatically  that  many  persons  were  cured  of  disease  by 
Dowie.  Many  are  being  cured  by  other  religious  societies 
uniting  faith  and  prayer.  I  will  go  still  further,  though, 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

and  say  that  I  do  not  believe  that  the  prayer  cured  a 
single  one  of  these  persons,  only  so  far  as  the  prayer 
augmented  the  faith  of  the  persons  under  treatment. 

"  Pluck  from  the  memory  a  rooted  sorrow, 
Raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain, 
And  with  some  sweet,  oblivious  antidote 
Cleanse  the  stuffed  bosom  of  that  perilous  stuff 
Which  weighs  upon  the  heart."  — Macbeth. 

"  With  respect  to  the  manner  in  which  this  kind  of  suf- 
fering comes  to  be,  it  may  be  said  that  almost  every  un- 
usual experience  has  in  it  one  or  more  elements  of  causa- 
tion of  subsequent  mental  pain  and  derangement.  Most 
certainly,  even  such  experiences  as  broken  bones  may  lead 
to  it.  Likewise,  post  infections  as  well  as  certain  en- 
dogenous poisonings  are  sources  not  to  be  neglected ;  also, 
too  many  children,  too  heavy  financial  burdens,  too  pro- 
longed hours  of  arduous  labor,  physical  or  mental ;  too 
overweening  or  unrealized  ambitions;  or  poorly  cooked 
food  and  noxious  air;  disappointed  love  or  social  aspira- 
tion ;  financial  reverses  and  other  forms  of  '  ill-luck ' ; 
as  well  as  unsatisfied  deeply  implanted  longings  of  every 
sort;  weak  will  or  over-emotionalism;  gluttony  and  lazi- 
ness ;  early  impressive  childish  experiences,  especially  ter- 
rorizing dreams,  frightful  shocks,  prolonged  perversions 
of  development;  gloomy  or  inadequate  education;  unpro- 
pitious  parenthood;  vicious  or  disturbing  neighborhood 
—  all  these  may  contribute  in  incalculable  proportion,  yet 
never  except  by  their  due  share,  either  to  the  genesis  of  a 
mind  painfully  diseased,  worse  still,  in  many  instances,  to 
most  serious  interference  with  cure." — Dr.  Smith  Baker 
in  "  Canst  Thou  not  Minister  to  a  Mind  Diseased?  " 


IMMIGRATION 

THE  demand  of  the  eugenist  is  for  healthy  children. 
Healthy  parents  are  necessary  for  healthy  chil- 
dren. To  a  good  physical  condition  we  desire 
the  addition  of  good  mental  development.  Alcoholism, 
disease,  feeble-mindedness  and  criminality  are  the  .  great 
forces  working  against  the  ideals  for  a  healthy  race.  If 
we  further  consider  poverty,  illiteracy  and  the  environ- 
ment of  homes,  at  times  very  unsanitary,  we  have  the 
principal  objections  continually  given  against  the  admis- 
sion of  the  multitudes  who  are  yearly  coming  to  this  coun- 
try and  settling  chiefly  in  the  large  cities,  making  colonies 
of  their  own. 

To  a  lesser  extent  objections  are  raised  on  account  of 
the  low  standard  of  morals  of  these  immigrants,  to  their 
living  cheaply  and  sending  large  sums  of  money  to  their 
native  land,  and  to  their  influence  on  the  political  situa- 
tion in  these  large  cities. 

At  the  present  time  there  is  much  discussion  as  to  what 
should  be  the  physical  and  mental  tests  for  their  admis- 
sion into  the  country,  as  well  as  to  when  and  by  what 
tests  these  foreigners  should  be  naturalized.  On  account 
of  the  large  number  of  illiterates  who  are  given  the  privi- 
lege of  the  franchise,  Congress  is  now  debating  and  the 
press  is  full  of  news  items  and  editorials  as  to  what  should 
be  done  to  correct  this  supposed  evil.  Opinions  seem  to 
be  quite  evenly  divided  on  the  question  of  making  more 

123 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

rigid  regulations  or  allowing  present  conditions  to  con- 
tinue. 

"In  1812,  the  Hartford  convention  claimed:  'The 
stock  population  of  the  States  is  amply  sufficient  to  ren- 
der this  Nation  in  due  time  sufficiently  great  and  power- 
ful.' In  the  early  fifties,  opposition  to  the  alien  culmi- 
nated in  the  Know  Nothing  movement,  when  misguided 
fanatics,  actuated  by  an  insane  jealousy  of  foreigners, 
not  only  discriminated  against  all  aliens,  but  attempted 
actual  persecution. 

"  It  is  fortunate  for  our  growth  that  the  immigrant 
of  those  early  days  was  of  a  caliber  vastly  superior  to 
that  of  the  immigrant  of  to-day.  Of  late  there  has  been 
a  rebirth  of  distrust  of  the  immigrant.  That  this  feeling 
exists  and  is  even  stronger  than  ever  is  attested  by  the 
numerous  magazine  and  newspaper  articles  on  immigra- 
tion. Time  and  again  we  read  protests  against  the  '  horde 
of  illiterates,'  or  the  '  scum  of  Europe,'  or  the  '  pauper 
invasion,'  which  is  *  swarming  into  our  country.'  The 
articles  are  usually  the  feverish  output  of  some  enthusias- 
tic patriot  who  has  not  come  in  close  contact  with  the 
immigrant  for  any  extended  length  of  time,  and  whose 
remarks  are  misleading,  though  eloquent  and  readable." 
In  order  that  the  question  of  immigration  may  be  clearly 
presented  and  the  better  understood,  some  interesting 
statistics  are  here  given: 

1910  population  United  States 91,000,000 

Foreign  born 13,500,000 

Foreign    parents 13,000,000 

Foreign  and  American  parents 6,000,000 


IMMIGRATION  125 

Inc.  or  dec.,  per  cent. 
Foreign  born  from  —          1910  Over  1900 

Northwestern   Europe.  .6,740,000  Dec.        4 

Southwestern    Europe.  .5,000,000  Inc.  175 

Italy    1,300,000  Inc.  213 

Russia  and  Finland 1,700,000  Inc.  177 

Austria-Hungary    1,670,000  Inc.  162 

Roumania   66,000  Inc.  338 

Greece   101,000  Inc.  1,089 

Spain     £2,000  Inc.  213 

Males         Females 
Foreign  born  —  1910     7,600,000     5,800,000 

Balkans   19,000  1,700  1,107  to  1 

China    54,000  1,800  3,074  to  1 

Greece    93,000  7,800  1,192  to  1 

Japan    60,000  7,000  870  to  1 

European  Turkey 28,500  3,700  770  to  1 

Foreign  born  from — • 

Austria    72  per  cent,  in  cities  of  United  States. 

China     73  per  cent,  in  cities  of  United  States. 

Hungary    77  per  cent,  in  cities  of  United  States. 

Ireland    84  per  cent,  in  cities  of  United  States. 

Italy    .  ., 78  per  cent,  in  cities  of  United  States. 

Russia    87  per  cent,  in  cities  of  United  States. 

Roumania    92  per  cent,  in  cities  of  United  States. 

This  percentage  is  greater  in  Middle  Atlantic  States. 

Pennsylvania  —  Population    1910 7,665,111 

Allegheny  County  —  Population  1910 1,018,463 


126  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Pittsburgh  —  Population   1910 553,905 

Pennsylvania  —  Foreign  born  1910 1,448,000 

Pennsylvania  —  Foreign  born   1900 .     985,000 

Pittsburgh  —  Foreign  born  1910 141,000 

Pittsburgh  —  Foreign  born  1900 .     115,000 

Pittsburgh  —  Foreign  born  1910: 

Austrian    21,400 

German    29,400 

Irish     19,000 

Russian . 26,400 

Italian 14,000 

Roumanian    1,521 

Pittsburgh  —  Foreign  or  mixed  parents,  1910  191,000 
Pittsburgh  —  Illiterate,  10  yrs.  and  over,  1910  26,000 
Pittsburgh  —  Illiterate  males  of  voting  age .  .  .  14,165 

School  children  in  U.  S.,  1909^10 18,000,000 

Native  born   15,600,000 

Native  parents 11,100,000 

Foreign  or  mixed  parents.  ., 4,500,000 

Foreign  born    650,000 

Illiterate  in  U.  S.,  10  years  and  over,  1910.  .  .    5,500,000 

Native  white  (25  per  cent,  of  total) 1,378,000 

Foreign  born  (30  per  cent,  of  total) 1,650,000 

Foreign  mixed  (3  per  cent,  of  total) 155,000 

Negro  (40  per  cent,  of  total) 2,227,000 

Percentage  of  illiterates  in  population  10  years  of  age 
and  over: 

City         County 

Total    . 5.1  10.1 

Foreign  born   12.6  13.2 


IMMIGRATION 

Three  per  cent,  of  native  whites  and  13  per  cent,  of 
foreign  born,  10  years  of  age  and  over  were  illiterate. 

Only  6.3  per  cent,  of  farm  operators  in  Pennsylvania 
were  foreign  born  whites. 

"  An  important  fact  demonstrated  by  statistics  is  that 
in  those  States  which  receive  a  great  proportion  of  aliens 
every  year,  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  is  low,  while  in  the 
States  where  the  percentage  of  foreigners  is  lowest,  as 
Georgia,  Tennessee,  and  Kentucky,  the  percentage  of  illit- 
eracy for  the  State  is  very  high.  Illiteracy  is  seldom  a 
matter  of  choice  with  the  peasant.  It  is  usually  a  matter 
of  bad  government.  It  is  also  necessary  to  discriminate 
between  the  man  who  is  illiterate  and  the  man  who  is  un- 
educated. 

"  The  majority  of  the  immigrants  who  are  illiterate 
come  here  to  supply  the  demand  for  unskilled  labor,  and 
the  mere  fact  of  being  able  to  read  or  write  in  their  own 
language  would  not  aid  them  one  iota  in  their  work  or 
make  them  one  whit  more  desirable  to  their  employers. 
There  is  often  expressed  a  fear  of  the  growing  numbers 
of  the  illiterate  laborers  in  this  country,  because  of  their 
tendency  to  socialism  or  anarchy.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  illiterate  laborer  can  only  be  reached  from  the  public 
platform,  and  the  anarchistic  exhorter  can  be  easily  sup- 
pressed or  deported,  but  it  is  not  so  easy  to  prevent  the 
dissemination  of  anarchistic  pamphlets,  which  sow  the 
seeds  of  discord  and  fan  the  flame  of  discontent  in  the 
heart  of  the  laborer  who  can  read. 

"  The  great  majority  of  male  immigrants  are  not  me- 
chanics, but  unskilled  laborers.  The  native  American  does 
not  engage  in  the  digging  of  excavations,  carrying  the 


128  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

hod,  or  mining.  No  native  American  resents  that  the 
immigrant  has  turned  them  out  of  the  great  Pennsylvania 
mines.  There  is  quite  a  large  class  of  immigrants  com- 
posed of  men  of  poor  physique,  with  their  families,  ad- 
mitted every  year,  because  they  are  skilled  in  tailoring, 
shoemaking,  baking  or  other  trades  which  do  not  require 
much  physical  strength.  These  people  are  undesirable 
immigrants.  They  enter  into  direct  competition  with  the 
American  tradesman  or  mechanic,  accepting  lower  wages 
and  working  more  hours. 

"  There  is  no  doubt  that  such  a  mass  of  ignorant  voters 
constitutes  a  great  power  for  evil.  But  the  blame  can 
hardly  be  charged  to  the  immigrant ;  rather  it  is  due  to 
the  unscrupulous  ward  politicians  who  thus  increase  their 
following  and  to  the  judge  who  grants  citizenship  papers 
without  proper  investigation  of  the  applicant." 

Mr.  C.  V.  C.  Van  Dusen  says  in  part :  "  I  find  that  it 
is  and  has  been  for  years  past  the  practice  of  judges  of 
State  courts  to  hold  evening  sessions  of  the  court  at  the 
behest  of  the  political  leaders  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
naturalizing  hundreds  of  aliens  for  political  purposes  with 
a  full  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  judges  that  the  aliens 
have  been  bribed  to  become  citizens  and  voters  by  the  pay- 
ment of  their  naturalization  fees  by  the  political  organi- 
zations. 

"  It  is  unfair  to  charge  to  the  alien  the  political  corrup- 
tion and  cheapening  of  the  rights  of  citizenship,  resulting 
from  this  condition  of  fraudulent  or  careless  naturaliza- 
tion. The  fault  is  in  our  laws,  and  to  an  even  greater 
extent  in  the  lax  administration  of  them. 

"  The  power   of  issuing  certificates   of  naturalization 


IMMIGRATION  129 

should  be  withdrawn  by  Congress  from  the  various  State 
courts  and  should  be  restricted  to  United  States  courts." 

There  is  no  longer  demand  for  foreign  skilled  labor  in 
the  United  States.  Americans  can  fill  the  requirements  of 
the  skilled  laborers  and  mechanics,  but  if  capitalists  had 
to  depend  on  native  Americans  for  the  unskilled  labor  nec- 
essary for  their  projects,  these  projects  would  never  be 
carried  to  completion,  or,  if  attempted,  would  be  certain 
of  financial  failure. 

While  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  illiteracy  test  would 
debar  many  thousands  of  undesirable  immigrants  and  pros- 
pective dwellers  in  the  tenements,  it  is  doubtful  if  this 
result  would  compensate  for  the  loss  of  32  per  cent,  of 
such  sterling  laborers  as  the  Poles,  or  35  per  cent,  of  the 
Slavs  in  general,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  as  large,  if  not 
larger,  proportion  of  the  undesirable  immigrants  could 
be  debarred  by  requiring  a  high  standard  of  physique, 
without  seriously  affecting  our  supply  of  unskilled  labor. 
Much  of  this  chapter  is  from  the  studies  of  Dr.  McLaugh- 
lin  and  others,  to  whom  due  credit  is  herewith  given. 

President  Roosevelt  in  his  message  to  the  Fifty-eighth 
Congress,  December,  1903,  said:  "We  cannot  have  too 
much  immigration  of  the  right  kind,  and  we  should  have 
none  at  all  of  the  wrong  kind."  The  great  importance 
of  immigration  to  eugenics  is  easily  understood  when  we 
observe  the  constitution  of  our  children  as  studied  in  our 
schools  and  the  proportion  of  foreigners  in  our  hospitals, 
penal  institutions,  and  among  the  unemployed. 

From  an  ethical  standpoint,  the  foreigner  who  will  not 
be  a  burden  upon  society  has  the  same  right  to  come  to 
our  shores  and  dwell  among  us  as  had  our  forefathers. 


130 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


Further,  those  coming  to-day  are  compelled  to  purchase 
any  land  which  they  might  claim  as  their  own,  while  the 
early  settlers  obtained  theirs  by  might  and  skillful  trad- 
ing with  the  Indians. 

This  country  is  sufficiently  large  and  the  natural 
sources  so  unlimited  that  many  more  millions  could  easilj 
earn  a  livelihood,  were  the  population  properly  distribut 
Important  studies  are  being  made,  and  laws  enacted  to 
conserve  our  forests,  the  water  supply,  mineral  deposits, 
etc.  We  are  just  beginning  to  observe  the  great  extrava- 
gance that  has  been  manifested  in  the  use  of  our  agricul- 
tural land.  The  future  of  America  must  depend  primarily 
on  the  fruits  of  the  soil.  Millions  of  acres  in  our  Eastern 
and  Southern  States  are  not  under  cultivation.  Large 
tracts  have  been  neglected.  Regeneration  has  already 
begun.  Intensive  farming  must  be  the  aim  of  the  agricul- 
turist. Scientific  farming  must  more  and  more  take  the 
place  of  the  factory. 

Such  being  the  case,  how  does  immigration  affect  these 
results  being  accomplished?  We  have  already  seen  that 
but  a  very  small  percentage  of  foreigners  can  and  will  till 
the  soil.  Professor  Ross,  in  the  November,  1913,  Cen- 
tury, says :  "  Failing  to  contribute  their  due  quota  to 
the  production  of  food,  these  late-comers  have  ruptured 
the  equilibrium  between  field  and  mill  and  made  the  high 
cost  of  living  a  burning  question.  Just  as  the  homestead 
policy  overstimulated  the  growth  of  farms,  the  new  immi- 
gration has  overstimulated  the  growth  of  factories."  Our 
forefathers  were  a  hardy  race;  many  immigrants  to-day 
are  of  poor  physique,  these  going  to  the  large  cities,  either 
to  be  parasites  or  competitors  of  skilled  labor.  This  is 


IMMIGRATION  131 

what  is  taking  place,  and  our  farmers  are  not  able  to  ob- 
tain sufficient  help  much  of  the  time.  Our  female  house 
servants  are  largely  recruited  from  the  immigrant  girls. 
Many  of  our  own  young  men  will  not  perform  manual 
labor,  preferring  to  remain  in  idleness  than  to  do  the 
work  of  a  laborer.  The  result  of  this  is  that  many  of  our 
girls  grow  up  ignorant  of  housework,  physically  unable 
to  become  wives  and  mothers,  a  very  sad  condition  for 
future  generations.  Many  of  the  men  are  unable  to  sup- 
port such  homes  and  the  domestic  relations  are  very  un- 
happy and  divorce  must  result. 

Some  of  our  economists  believe  that  the  Government 
should  determine  where  the  immigrant  should  settle,  in 
order  that  there  will  not  be  so  much  stagnation  in  the 
large  cities.  This  country  has  been  rightly  called  a  great 
"  melting  pot,"  and  it  would  appear  that  the  great  vessel 
was  filled  with  sweet  scented  things  to  attract  so  many 
to  it.  Our  schools,  civic  organizations,  churches,  etc., 
must  be  great  refineries.  It  is  not  possible  to  make  this 
vessel  a  separator.  We  must  amalgamate.  The  immi- 
grant must  merge  his  identity  with  that  of  the  Nation. 
Our  democracy  permits  the  Russian,  the  Italian,  the  Ger- 
man, the  Briton,  the  grandson  of  a  black  slave,  and  the 
sons  of  those  blue-blooded  Bostonians  who  came  over  in 
the  Mayflower  to  sit  side  by  side  and  discuss  the  civic  and 
political  affairs  of  this  country,  which  grants  certain  liber- 
ties to  all.  This  is  an  ideal  state  of  society,  and  if  all 
nationalities  in  this  country  can  so  adapt  themselves  to 
the  best  interests  of  all  concerned  there  should  be  no 
opposition  by  the  eugenists  to  the  great  influx  of  immi- 
grants annually  coming  to  this  country.  In  a  recent  bul- 


132  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

letin  of  the  National  Geographic  Society,  an  organization 
of  more  than  250,000  members,  the  director  says,  "  The 
United  States  is  taking  more  pains  to-day  to  see  that  a 
Hereford  bull  or  a  Southdown  ewe,  imported  for  the  im- 
provement of  our  cattle,  are  sound  and  free  from  disease 
than  it  takes  in  the  admission  of  an  alien  man  or  woman 
who  will  be  the  father  and  mother  of  American  children." 
The  bulletin  suggests  that  immigration  should  be  consid- 
ered from  the  eugenic  standpoint. 

The  present  agitation  in  Congress  as  to  illiteracy  of 
the  alien  being  a  sufficient  reason  for  debarring  him  is 
hardly  to  the  point.  Our  laws  are  probably  sufficiently 
good,  but  the  regulations  as  to  who  should  be  excluded 
are  not  enforced,  and  those  offending  are  not  punished  for 
the  part  they  play  in  making  the  laws  noneffective.  The 
influence  of  the  steamship  companies  is  too  apparent. 
There  is  too  much  economy  in  the  provision  of  inspection 
of  those  entering  our  ports.  It  is  impossible  for  two 
medical  officers  to  inspect  5,000  immigrants  in  a  day,  which 
task  they  frequently  have  to  perform. 

In  brief,  our  restrictions  are  as  follows,  the  classes  of 
aliens  named  being  excluded: 

Class  A  —  All  idiots,  imbeciles,  feeble-minded,  epilep- 
tics, insane,  and  persons  who  have  been  insane  within  five 
years  previous ;  persons  who  have  had  two  or  more  attacks 
of  insanity  at  any  time  previously. 

Class  B  —  Paupers,  persons  likely  to  become  a  public 
charge,  and  professional  beggars. 

Class  C  —  Persons  afflicted  with  tuberculosis  or  with  a 
loathsome  or  dangerous  contagious  disease,  and  persons 
physically  and  mentally  unable  to  earn  a  living. 


IMMIGRATION  133 

Class  D  —  Criminals,  polygamists,  and  anarchists. 

Class  E  —  Prostitutes  or  those  who  are  commercially 
interested  in  prostitution. 

Class  F  —  Persons  called  contract  laborers. 

Class  G  —  All  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  un- 
less accompanied  by  one  or  both  parents,  at  the  discretion 
of  the  Secretary  of  Labor ;  there  are  several  exceptions. 

An  alien  should  have,  generally  -speaking,  enough  to 
provide  for  his  reasonable  wants  and  those  dependent  upon 
him  until  he  can  obtain  employment.  There  are  now 
twenty  to  twenty-five  thousand  aliens  debarred  annually. 
I  believe  that  most  persons  who  are  interested  in  the  wel- 
fare of  our  future  generations  will  agree  that  those  re- 
strictions are  quite  sufficient  if  they  are  enforced,  and  if 
proper  wage,  working  hours,  restraint  of  trade,  sanitary, 
educational,  etc.,  regulations  are  made  for  all  persons  in 
the  United  States.  Special  restrictions  are  already  made 
for  Chinese  and  Japanese. 

Let  us  look  briefly  at  a  few  of  the  problems  of  the 
immigrants  as  they  affect  our  social  conditions  and  conse- 
quently as  they  influence  parenthood  and  the  children. 
Many  of  our  immigrants  to-day  are  of  the  age  and  sex 
which  predispose  to  crime.  We  observe  that  a  large  per- 
centage come  to  this  country  to  obtain  better  wages  than 
they  could  get  at  home.  A  very  important  factor  in  the 
moral  aspect  of  this  male  adult  problem  is  the  fact  that  for 
one  Chinese  woman  who  has  been  admitted,  there  were  over 
three  thousand  Chinamen,  and  for  one  woman  from  Greece 
and  the  Balkans  there  were  eleven  hundred  men  from  these 
countries.  The  importance  of  these  figures  is  surely  grave 
when  the  question  of  prostitution  is  considered. 


134  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

It  is  very  possible  that  some  writers  censure  too  severely 
foreigners  as  a  whole,  in  that  those  who  are  now  being 
admitted  are  under  a  certain  degree  of  censorship,  while 
much  of  the  crime  is  committed  by  those  who  came  into 
the  country  when  the  regulations  were  less  rigid.  Our 
slums  are  always  pointed  to  as  the  result  of  the  foreign 
element  among  us.  It  is  continually  stated  that  our  race 
is  being  multiplied  from  the  classes  dwelling  in  the  unsani- 
tary localities.  This  is  true  to  a  great  extent,  but  the 
slums  were  already  established  and  it  is  probable  that 
the  immigrant  is  a  victim  of  these  conditions,  not  the 
cause  of  them.  Not  only  in  the  United  States,  but  in 
other  countries  sanitary  laws  are  being  enforced.  In 
London,  many  thousands  of  bad  dwellings  are  being  torn 
down.  We  can  only  expect  that  the  foreigners  from  the 
various  countries  will  keep  much  together  in  our  cities. 

In  Pittsburgh  we  have  our  colonies  of  Italians,  Hun- 
garians, Polish,  Syrians,  etc. ;  such  an  arrangement  is  bet- 
ter for  them  socially  and  from  an  economic  standpoint. 
It  is  possible  for  them  to  have  their  own  churches  by  such 
settlements.  It  takes  about  three  or  four  years  for  these 
persons  to  acquire  our  language  and  understand  our  cus- 
toms sufficiently  to  live  apart  from  their  own  people. 

The  school  problem  is  a  very  great  one,  for  the  children 
of  the  foreigner  must  be  educated.  Our  laws  require  all 
children  between  certain  ages  to  attend  school.  Their 
parents  are  very  anxious  for  their  children  to  be  educated, 
knowing  that  they  will  therefore  be  the  better  able  to 
learn  our  language.  Many  of  these  children  teach  their 
parents  to  speak  English.  It  is  even  said  that  many  mis- 
sion Sunday-schools  are  well  attended  for  this  reason. 


IMMIGRATION  135 

With  the  exception  of  the  Russian  Jews,  but  few  foreign- 
ers come  to  us  to  escape  religious  persecution  compared 
with  former  years.  The  only  objection  to  these  is  that 
many  of  them  are  revengeful  and  continually  complain  of 
their  old  persecutions.  They  are  often  in  strife ;  many  are 
restless,  continually  in  litigation.  As  in  Europe,  they 
frequently  settle  in  localities  where  the  population  is  the 
most  dense,  where  there  is  more  or  less  political  turmoil, 
for  there  their  restless  and  unrelentless  spirit  will  be  less 
offensive.  Most  of  these  have  a  certain  inherent  family 
pride,  they  are  quite  ambitious,  filled  with  a  marked  de- 
gree of  parsimony.  They  have  respect  for  our  laws  and 
customs  as  a  rule;  they  have  a  nervous  make-up,  all  of 
which  make  them  such  as  to  be  classed  as  our  best  or  worst 
citizens.  Summing  up,  I  would  say  that  the  foreigner  is 
with  us.  We  must  do  the  best  possible  for  him.  He  must 
be  taught  to  assimilate  the  best  of  our  customs  and  abhor 
the  worst.  Labor  conditions  must  be  such  that  vast  num- 
bers are  not  idle  in  our  great  cities.  He  must  not  in- 
crease alcoholism  and  crime  among  us.  He  must  be  taught 
how  to  live  that  the  percentage  of  infant  mortality  will 
not  continue  to  be  'so  great  with  them.  He  must  not  be 
a  burden  upon  our  hospitals  and  charitable  organizations. 
He  must  know  that  a  healthy  body  is  essential  for  good 
parentage.  But  in  teaching  our  immigrants  these  things 
let  us  not  forget  that  we  ourselves  are  not  free  from  many 
of  the  sins  for  which  we  blame  him,  and  as  Mary  Antin 
says :  "  All  these  things  shall  be  interpreted  to  mean  that 
the  love  of  liberty  united  all  races  and  classes  of  men  into 
our  close  brotherhood,  and  that  we  Americans,  therefore, 
who  have  the  utmost  of  liberty  that  has  yet  been  attained, 


136  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

owe  the  alien  a  brother's  love." 

In  conclusion  I  quote  from  a  recent  speech  by  Hon. 
Lathrop  Brown,  Congressman  from  New  York,  on  "  Immi- 
gration " :  "  In  the  light  of  recent  research  I  am  forced 
to  the  belief  that,  by  reason  of  the  inherited  qualities  of 
mental  soundness  or  defect,  this  house  in  this  legislation 
must  now  decide  whether,  by  adopting  the  unjust  and 
inefficient  literacy  clause,  it  will  burden  our  splendid  and 
unequaled  race  with  defectives,  degenerates,  and  criminals 
through  unnumbered  generations,  or  whether,  by  rejecting 
the  literacy  clause  and  by  substituting  therefor  some  wise 
amendments,  it  will  admit  the  progenitors  of  normal,  sane 
and  industrious  citizens,  whose  good  qualities  through  the 
years  to  come  will  be  transmitted  unimpaired  to  their, 
sturdy  American  descendants." 

In  his  message  to  Congress  concerning  his  veto  of  the 
immigration  bill,  January,  1915,  President  Wilson  said  in 
part :  "  It  is  with  unaffected  regret  that  I  find  myself 
constrained  by  clear  conviction  to  return  this  bill  (H.  R. 
6060,  an  act  to  regulate  the  immigration  of  aliens  to  and 
the  residence  of  aliens  in  the  United  States)  without  my 
signature.  Its  enactment  into  law  would  undoubtedly  en- 
hance the  efficiency  and  improve  the  methods  of  handling 
the  important  branch  of  the  public  service  to  which  the 
measure  relates.  But  candor  and  a  sense  of  duty  with 
regard  to  the  responsibility  so  clearly  imposed  upon  me 
by  the  Constitution  in  matters  of  legislation  leave  me  no 
choice  but  to  dissent." 

"  In  two  particulars  of  vital  consequence  this  bill  em- 
bodies radical  departure  from  the  traditional  and  long 
established  policy  of  this  country,  a  policy  in  which  our 


IMMIGRATION  137 

people  have  conceived  the  very  character  of  their  govern- 
ment to  be  expressed,  the  very  mission  and  spirit  of  the 
nation  in  respect  to  its  relations  to  the  peoples  of  the 
world  outside  their  borders.  It  seeks  to  all  but  close 
entirely  the  gates  of  asylum  which  have  always  been  open 
to  those  who  could  find  nowhere  else  the  right  and  oppor- 
tunity of  constitutional  agitation  for  what  they  conceived 
to  be  the  natural  and  inalienable  rights  of  men;  and  it 
includes  those  to  whom  the  opportunities  of  elementary 
education  have  been  without  regard  to  their  character, 
their  purposes,  or  their  natural  capacity." 

"  Restrictions  like  these  adopted  earlier  in  our  history 
as  a  nation  would  very  materially  have  altered  the  course 
and  cooled  the  humane  ardors  of  our  politics.  The  right 
of  political  asylum  has  brought  to  this  country  many  a 
man  of  noble  character  and  elevated  purpose  who  was 
marked  as  an  outlaw  in  his  own  less  fortunate  land  and 
who  has  not  yet  become  an  ornament  to  our  citizenship 
«ind  to  our  public  councils."  By  a  narrow  margin  the 
House  failed  to  pass  the  bill  over  the  President's  veto. 


CHURCH  AND  EUGENICS 

IT  is  not  surprising  that  'some  of  the  clergy  should  not 
only  hesitate  to  accept  some  of  the  teachings  of  eu- 
genics, but  should  even  preach  against  such  doctrines. 
The  reason  for  such  opposition  to  this  most  noble  science 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  many  eugenic  scientific  brethren 
teach  only  the  improvement  of  the  physical  nature  of  man. 
Those  opposed  say  that  this  eugenic  teaching  to  better 
the  physical  side  of  man  is  dangerous  in  that  the  morals 
are  forgotten.  Eugenics  pertains,  they  say,  only  to  what 
is  of  the  brute  nature.  They  claim  that  a  good  man  is 
not  of  any  perfect  physical  type.  To  this  I  agree,  and 
will  even  go  the  enemies  of  eugenics  one  better  and  say 
that  an  infirm  body  is  often  the  reason  of  such  a  man's 
piety.  For  him  who  cannot  sin,  there  is  no  sin.  The 
miser  may  hide  himself  from  society,  that  he  will  not  spend 
his  savings,  and  the  burglar  with  a  broken  leg  will  not  risk 
capture  by  housebreaking. 

I  would  ask  any  who  do  not  believe  in  eugenics  to  read 
and  study  carefully  the  definition  given  on  frontispage  by 
Francis  Galton.  We  believe  that  a  healthy  man  is  gener- 
ally a  more  rational  man  than  a  weakling;  that  a  healthy 
race  is  better  morally  than  one  composed  largely  of  tuber- 
cular, insane,  syphilitic  and  otherwise  diseased  persons,  and 
that  when  the  physical  make-up  of  the  people  of  any  coun- 
try shows  marked  decay  such  a  nation  must  fall,  and  in  its 
decline  it  will  also  show  a  moral  decadence,  which  immoral- 
ity is  largely  due  to  the  physical  constitution  of  its  people 

138 


CHURCH  AND  EUGENICS  139 

and  the  causes  which  produced  such  a  decline.  On  the 
other  hand  I  will  agree  that  a  strong  race,  as  the  Ameri- 
can Indians,  never  was  an  ideal  people  because  they  lacked 
a  religious  training. 

Our  contention  is  that  man  is  better  as  an  individual, 
family,  race  or  nation  if  he  is  improved  physically,  to 
which  must  be  added  the  religious  training  of  faith  in  a 
superior  being  and  controlled  by  a  rational  code  of  moral 
laws.  Only  such  gives  us  a  vision  of  the  ideal  superman. 
Eugenics  assists  in  this  development. 

The  Scripture  from  the  book  of  Genesis  to  the  end  of 
the  New  Testament  is  full  of  eugenic  teachings.  Man  and 
animals  are  reproduced,  like  bearing  like.  The  effect  of 
disease  on  the  physical  and  moral  natures  is  frequently 
pointed  out.  In  the  commandment  we  are  told  that  dis- 
ease is  handed  down  to  the  third  and  fourth  generations. 
Many  laws  on  health  were  given  to  the  children  of  Israel. 
The  effect  of  association  and  marriage  into  idolatrous 
nations  is  emphasized  many  times. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  most  religious  denominations 
have  a  strong  belief  in  eugenics.  It  is  being  taught  in 
many  pulpits.  The  writer  has  discussed  the  subject  in  very 
many  churches  of  Pittsburgh  and  vicinity,  and  never  once 
has  he  stated  that  a  perfect  physical  body  would  save 
any  man  future  punishment,  but  has  taught  that  health 
is  a  means  to  an  end.  A  man  will  sow  wild  oats  and  be 
forgiven  by  repentance.  But  prayer  and  repentance  alone 
will  not  remove  the  effects  of  broken  physical  laws  nor 
prevent  the  wife  and  children  from  suffering  on  account 
of  the  sin  of  the  husband  and  father  unless  the  disease  is 
cured.  The  spiritual  life  awakens  the  conscience  of  man 


140  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

so  that  he  will  endeavor  to  remove  disease  from  himself  as 
well  as  prevent  others  from  being  afflicted  —  provided  he 
knows  what  he  should  do  in  such  a  case. 

Let  us  then  all  labor  to  improve  where  we  may.  Man 
has  always  been  a  great  composite ;  at  birth  he  inherits 
from  many  hundred  forefathers,  and  during  life  he  is  a 
great  mirror  reflecting  rays  from  the  multitudes  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact.  The  strong  is  strengthened 
by  helping  the  weak  physically  and  morally.  Sparta  has 
left  no  trace  but  her  history ;  she  cared  only  for  physical 
strength,  and  wasted  that  strength  and  power  which  are 
in  weakness.  The  heathen  in  Korea  will  accept  and  have 
faith  in  the  teaching  proclaimed  by  the  Methodist,  Pres- 
byterian, Catholic  or  Mohammedan.  Why?  Man  lives 
by  faith.  He  has  always  strived  to  grasp  the  supernatu- 
ral. A  healthy  mind,  as  the  result  of  a  healthy  body, 
assists  much  in  removing  myths,  superstition,  etc.  There 
is  no  dissension  between  science  and  religion.  The  super- 
natural is  but  natural  if  understood.  Love  and  nature, 
man  and  God  implies  beauty.  Beauty  presents  a  sense  of 
completeness,  of  harmony  in  itself,  nothing  lacking,  nor 
too  much.  Let  us  then  cultivate  the  beautiful  and  destroy 
those  things  which  should  not  be  a  part  of  nature.  So- 
ciety demands  it;  the  Church  progresses  thereby.  Wells 
once  said  that  he  was  afraid  to  permit  any  man  to  be  sick, 
poor  or  miserable,  and  bring  up  sick,  poor,  miserable  chil- 
dren, for  he  could  not  tell  what  man's  grandchild  would 
one  day  marry  his  grandchild. 

I  give  herewith  a  statement  on  "  Eugenics  and  Mar- 
riage "  by  Dean  Sumner,  and  some  opinions  of  the  clergy 
and  medical  men  on  Dr.  Sumner's  position  as  presented  in 


CHURCH  AND  EUGENICS 

a  symposium  by  the  Medical  Times: 

"  The  time  has  come  when  false  modesty  should  be  laid 
aside.  We  should  face  the  grim  facts  that  present  them- 
selves to  us  from  every  quarter.  The  American  people 
are  too  conventional  about  such  matters.  It  is  the  daily 
duty  of  the  medical  profession  to  assist  in  preventing 
marriages  between  the  unfit,  and  the  medical  journals 
should  join  hands  in  proclaiming  the  necessity  of  a  closer 
study  of  eugenics." —  Rev.  Walter  Taylor  Sumner,  D.D., 
dean  of  the  Episcopal  Cathedral  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul. 

"  It  is  criminal  to  allow  physically  and  mentally  de- 
ficient persons  to  marry  and  propagate  their  kind.  Sen- 
timent in  favor  of  the  prevention  of  such  mesalliances  is 
growing  rapidly  and  a  decided  impetus  has  been  given  the 
movement  by  Dean  Sumner  of  Chicago,  who  demands 
health  certificates  from  prospective  bridal  couples." — 
Medical  Times. 

"  The  attitude  of  the  church  people  toward  the  prob- 
lem of  eugenics  is  largely  one  of  indifference  through  ig- 
norance. There  is,  however,  among  clergymen  a  growing 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  philosophy  of  eternal 
well-being  has  a  very  necessary  counterpart  in  the  science 
of  physical  being.  When  the  American  people  will  be 
willing  to  cease  talking  flippantly  about  virtue,  toning 
down  harsh  names  to  such  glib  and  cant  words  as  '  affin- 
ity '  and  '  flames,'  and  will  be  willing  to  call  adultery  by 
its  right  name,  and  when  they  will  guard  their  homes  and 
their  children  with  as  much  vigilance  as  they  guard  their 
business  investments,  then  we  may  be  ready  for  such  a 
sweeping  law  to  guard  our  liberties  as  the  one  suggested." 
—  Rev.  William  Hiram  Foulkes,  D.D.,  Rutgers  Presby- 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

terian  Church,  New  York. 

"  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  decision  of  the  Chicago 
dean  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction.  Clergymen,  phy- 
sicians and  educators  ought  to  cooperate  in  using  their 
influence  to  see  that  proper  laws  are  placed  upon  the 
statute  books  whereby  the  end  sought  could  be  attained." 
—  Rev.  Addison  Moore,  D.D.,  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist 
Churchy  New  York. 

"  Nothing  is  more  important,  to  my  mind,  in  our  ques- 
tion of  marriage,  than  to  use  our  powers  of  social  control 
to  prevent  many  people  from  marrying  —  those,  namely, 
whose  marriage,  for  one  reason  or  another,  can  be  *  noth- 
ing but  a  tragedy,'  and  whose  parenthood  is  a  social  dan- 
ger and  disgrace." —  Rev.  John  Haynes  Holmes,  Church 
of  the  Messiah,  New  York. 

"  I  am  in  hearty  sympathy  with  any  movement  which 
will  prevent  the  abnormal  and  the  physically  and  mentally 
diseased  from  entering  into  matrimonial  relations.  The 
future  physical  life  of  the  American  people  demands  that 
something  shall  be  done." —  Rev.  William  H.  Crawford, 
president  of  Allegheny  College,  Meadville,  Pa. 

"  It  will  be  much  easier  to  settle  the  question  whether 
both  parties  are  free  from  the  venereal  taint  than  to  de- 
termine whether  they  are  fully  en  rapport  with  each  other 
in  the  deepest  things  of  marital  life.  It  is  clearly  within 
the  province  of  the  State,  as  a  matter  of  health,  to  forbid 
the  marriage  of  diseased  persons." —  Rt.  Rev.  Samuel 
Fallows,  Presiding  Bishop  of  the  Reformed  Episcopal 
Church,  Chicago,  III. 

"  I  sympathize  with  any  effect  to  improve  our  race  by 
a  stricter  supervision  of  marriage  in  the  way  of  physical 


CHURCH  AND  EUGENICS  143 

and  mental  qualifications  of  the  contracting  parties.  The 
science  of  eugenics  demands  that  we  give  more  attention 
to  the  improvement  of  mankind,  by  care  and  selection,  as 
we  do  to  bettering  the  breed  of  animals." —  Rev.  Henry  M. 
Sanders,  D.D.,  late  pastor  Madison  Avenue  Baptist 
Church,  New  York. 

"  There  are  certain  changes  needing  to  be  made  in  our 
social  life,  changes  which  are  rather  generally  recognized 
as  desirable  and  even  necessary.  One  such  change  has  to 
do  with  requiring  candidates  for  marriage  to  come  before 
the  officiating  clergyman,  civil  official,  equipped  with  a 
certificate  furnished  by  a  reputable  physician  testifying 
to  the  physical  fitness  of  the  intending  parties,  and  to  the 
fact  of  their  sound  mentality  and  their  freedom  from  in- 
curable or  contagious  disease." —  Rev.  Charles  H.  Park- 
hurst,  D.D.,  Madison  Square  Presbyterian  Church,  New 
York. 

"  Whatever  sceptic  could  inquire  for, 
For  every  why  he  had  a  wherefore." 

—  Butler:     Hudibras. 

The  more  we  appeal  to  reason,  the  more  reason  there  is 
why  the  Church  should  be  a  unit  in  teaching  eugenics.  A 
Pittsburgh  minister  preached  a  sermon  one  year  ago  on 
the  subject  of  "  Give  the  Church  a  Rest."  He  took  for 
his  text :  "  And  now  also  the  ax  is  laid  to  the  root  of 
the  tree." 

Among  other  things  he  said  in  explaining  this  text: 
"  The  Church  should  not  cut  off  a  few  obnoxious 
branches."  "  Cutting  off  a  few  limbs  adds  strength  to 
the  other  limbs."  "  Checking  evil  along  any  certain  line 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

usually  intensifies  it  along  other  lines."  "  Cutting  off 
branches  makes  new  roots  to  appear."  "  Cut  the  roots 
and  all  the  branches  of  the  tree  die."  "  To  bring  about 
personal  and  social  regeneration  with  the  gospel  of  Christ 
is  the  mission  of  the  Church."  "  The  hobby-horse  of  eu- 
genics ought  to  be  tied  to  the  front  of  the  doctor's  office." 

I  do  not  believe  that  any  clergyman,  be  he  Jew,  Catho- 
lic, or  Protestant,  would  preach  that  sermon  to-day. 
They  are  quite  all  of  one  accord  as  to  the  duty  in  personal 
and  social  regeneration.  Would  this  preacher  prevent  his 
boy  from  telling  a  lie?  If  he  did  he  might  be  worse  in 
his  other  sins.  Does  the  city  allow  arson  and  burglary  in 
order  that  there  will  not  be  more  murder?  Is  the  Church 
afraid  to  preach  against  certain  sins,  fearing  that  thereby 
others  will  be  worse?  The  individual  must  be  entirely  re- 
generated to  be  sanctified,  but  among  the  righteous  there 
is  none  perfect,  no,  not  one.  No,  we  must  not  kill  the  tree 
in  a  literal  sense.  Pruning  a  tree  does  make  it  better, 
but  man  is  not  all  sin  in  all  of  his  branches. 

Some  minister  has  said  that  the  only  remedy  against 
sexual  sins  is  self-denial,  and  for  self-denial  man  must 
have  a  motive.  The  motive  is  supplied  by  supernatural 
faith  alone,  faith  in  God  and  the  hereafter. 

This  is  true,  but  we  must  not  forget  that  the  real  prac- 
tical translation  of  a  common  Scriptural  phrase  would 
read :  "  Faith  without  works  makes  many  dead."  Do  we 
allow  our  doors  to  remain  open  that  thieves  may  enter  and 
(help  themselves?  We  are  not  yet  so  charitable.  When 
it  comes  to  money,  jewelry  and  other  earthly  things  of 
value,  we  take  every  precaution,  but  when  it  is  only  the 
health  of  our  family  and  the  physical  welfare  of  society 


CHURCH  AND  EUGENICS  145 

we  are  prone  to  be  apathetic  or  say  that  man  is  made  in 
God's  image  and  we  must  put  all  in  faith. 

Another  says  that  legislation  can  control  only  the  ex- 
ternal acts  and  cannot  touch  the  things  of  conscience.  Did 
Moses  so  instruct  the  children  of  Israel?  Is  it  not  a  mat- 
ter of  conscience  when  man  breaks  many  of  the  physical 
laws?  Do  men  who  have  lust  of  the  flesh,  men  who  steal 
and  murder,  never  have  a  sense  of  reason?  If  so,  it  is  be- 
cause their  physical  bodies  have  so  reverted  to  the  animal 
that  they  are  no  longer  men. 

"  Marriage  is  a  fundamental  contract  between  man  and 
woman,"  says  another.  Would  that  it  were  always  so. 
But  how  about  the  mother  who  says  her  daughter  must 
marry  the  rich  young  rogue?  How  about  the  customs  of 
kings  and  those  who  control  the  descent  of  the  crown? 
Are  their  sons  and  daughters  free  to  marry  for  love? 
How  about  the  Church  forbidding  the  sons  and  daughters 
from  marrying  into  other  religious  beliefs?  I  am  not 
condemning  all  these,  merely  say  that  they  are  cases  of 
positive  eugenic  or  agenic  marriages.  The  preacher  may 
not  believe  in  evolution  and  the  laws  of  heredity,  but  when 
he  tells  his  hearers  that  the  wicked  man  will  be  a  curse  to 
his  children,  he  emphasizes  the  danger  of  intemperance  of 
the  father,  of  sexual  sin  of  the  mother  their  children  will 
suffer,  he  preaches  eugenics  and  denies  its  value  at  an- 
other time. 

Montesquieu  said  in  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Laws,"  almost 
two  hundred  years  ago :  "  We  ought  not  to  decide  by 
divine  laws,  nor  determine  by  human  what  should  be  de- 
termined by  divine  laws.  .  .  .  Human  laws  appoint  for 
some  good:  those  of  religion  for  the  best.  The  influence 


146  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

of  religion  proceeds  from  its  being  believed :  that  of  human 
laws  from  their  being  feared.  .  .  .  The  laws  of  religion 
have  a  greater  extent.  .  .  .  The  law  of  religion  (speaking 
on  marriage)  insists  upon  certain  ceremonies,  the  civil 
laws  on  the  consent  of  fathers ;  in  this  case  they  demand 
something  more  than  that  of  religion,  but  they  demand 
nothing  contrary  to  it." 

Auguste  Comte  said :  "  All  phenomena,  without  excep- 
tion, are  governed  by  invariable  laws,  with  which  no  voli- 
tions, either  natural  or  supernatural,  interfere."  We 
grant  that  physical  laws  are  fixed,  but  while  it  is  true  that 
inflammable  material  when  lighted  will  burn,  producing 
certain  substances,  reason  tells  us  that  we  can  frequently 
prevent  the  material  from  being  so  inflammable,  and  we 
might  prevent  the  fire  entirely.  The  Mississippi  River 
may  overflow  its  banks  with  the  loss  of  many  lives  and 
much  property,  but  cannot  we  build  levees?  Can  we  not 
put  rods  on  our  buildings  to  thwart  the  path  of  the  light- 
ning? Do  we  not  have  airships,  wireless  messages,  hyp- 
notism, etc.?  In  fact  where  we  see  that  physical  laws 
are  detrimental,  we  endeavor  to  prevent  those  laws  from 
being  effective  as  far  as  we  are  capable  of  so  doing.  We 
cannot  agree  with  Comte. 

Some  great  physician  of  France  once  said  that  he  had 
dissected  many  men  and  that  he  had  never  found  any- 
thing in  nobles  different  from  the  rest  of  us.  How  mighty 
is  the  power  of  such  reason!  Did  he  study  men  alive? 
I  am  firmly  convinced  that  sanity  depends  upon  a  healthy 
body,  that  reason  can  only  come  from  normal  brain  cells, 
that  a  healthy  body  is  more  likely  to  produce  a  normal 
mind  than  a  diseased  one,  and  that  a  faith  in  right  and 


CHURCH  AND  EUGENICS  147 

God  is  only  of  value  when  coming  from  a  mind  capable  of 
reason.  The  prayers  and  religious  experience  of  those 
under  a  great  emotion  are  not  as  the  result  of  reason, 
hence  not  real  or  of  value. 

It  is  pleasing  to  note  that  a  prospectus  for  a  course  in 
eugenics  given  at  the  Mount  Morris  Baptist  Church,  New 
York,  says :  "  If  the  Church  is  to  assume  authority  over 
the  marriage  contract,  it  has  a  much  greater  duty  to  its 
young  people  in  educating  them  on  the  significance  of  the 
propagation  of  the  race  and  to  the  ultimate  happiness  of 
the  home."  In  conclusion  let  us  urge  Church  union:  a 
closer  bond  between  all  religious  beliefs  in  the  common 
brotherhood  of  man.  The  people  of  early  Christian  times 
did  not  know  that  the  child  could  be  punished  when  the 
question  was  asked :  "  Who  sinned  that  this  man  was 
born  blind?  "  We  know  that  30  per  cent,  of  the  children 
in  the  blind  asylums  are  there  because  of  venereal  poison 
having  been  in  those  eyes.  Let  us  forget  our  difficulties 
as  to  the  u  dividing  of  the  Red  Sea,"  the  story  of  "  Jonah 
and  the  Whale,"  and  many  others,  and  become  practical 
eugenists  and  obey  the  eleventh  commandment,  loving  one 
another,  even  to  the  caring  for  the  sick  and  preventing 
the  disease  and  misery  to  the  utmost  of  our  ability. 

"  Churches  are  taking  a  new  interest  in  the  questions 
which  arise  out  of  unhappy  marriage  and  easy  divorce. 
M'any  persons  who  get  a  smattering  on  eugenics  are  eager 
for  legislation  to  make  marriage  conditional  in  bodily  and 
mental  health,  and  to  keep  in  confinement  the  feeble- 
minded, the  alcoholic  and  the  insane,  not  only  till  they 
are  of  age,  but  till  they  are  incapable  of  breeding  their 
like.  Some  knowledge  of  social  hygiene  and  eugenics  has 


148  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

led  many  persons  to  advocate  hastily-prepared  legislation 
as  a  panacea  for  evils  which  terribly  afflict  modern  com- 
munities, and  yet  are  ancient.  Such  is  the  genesis  and 
such  the  immediate  outcome  of  the  new  and  widespread 
interests  in  sex  hygiene.  .  .  .  Nothing  but  the  compulsory 
seclusion  of  all  defectives  under  humane  housing,  training 
and  labor  conditions  will  accomplish  the  eugenic  object  of 
the  community." — Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot,  in  an  address 
before  the  International  Congress  on  School  Hygiene, 
August  30,  1913. 


THE  CHURCH,  SOCIETY,  AND  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL 

PROSTITUTION  is  the  abuse  of  natural  and  proper 
body  functions  or  processes  whether  they  be  sexual 
or  otherwise.  Any  force  attracting  one  sex  to  an- 
other in  such  a  degree  that  empires  are  determined  to  rise 
or  fall  by  its  influence,  certainly  demands  full  consider- 
ation. The  manifestations  of  the  sex-pull  have  been  ob- 
served since  the  beginning  of  time  and  will  be  for  gener- 
ations to  come.  The  most  holy  human  individuals  who 
know  or  see  no  sin  declare  that  this  question  is  not  within 
the  pale  of  polite  consideration.  This  also  applies  to 
those  "  nice  "  people  with  a  social  standing  who  care  not 
to  soil  their  hands  and  minds  with  the  doings  of  the  "  in- 
ferior classes."  May  the  Lord  have  pity  on  these  Phari- 
sees !  The  Scripture  is  full  of  the  natural  man  and  his 
sexual  sins.  In  Tamar,  we  find  the  first  sacred  account  of 
public  prostitution;  in  David,  we  observe  that  the  sex 
impulse  was  the  same  in  the  royal  man  as  in  the  humble 
servant.  It  is  in  St.  John  that  we  find  the  real  consider- 
ation of  the  adultress  when  Christ  said,  "  Neither  do  I 
condemn  thee,  go  and  sin  no  more."  ..."  Let  him  that  is 
without  sin  be  first  to  cast  a  stone." 

The  libertines  of  Egypt,  Babylon,  Assyria,  Greece,  and 
Rome  furnish  history  replete  with  this  evil.  In  modern 
France  considerations  were  given  to  the  dangers  of  pros- 
titution and  the  attempts  to  abolish  the  brothel  were 
entirely  due  to  the  fearful  destruction  of  the  health  and 
life  of  even  the  innocent  at  home  by  the  spread  of  venereal 

149 


150  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

disease  on  account  of  the  general  cohabitation  of  the  men 
of  France  with  these  infected  women. 

Practically,  to-day  most  of  the  efforts  which  are  being 
made  to  eliminate  this  evil  are  due  to  the  terrible  ravages 
of  venereal  diseases  upon  the  health  and  life  of  the  better 
classes,  who  are  awakening  to  the  necessity  of  vigorous 
treatment  against  these  diseases.  Very  few  organizations 
have  come  into  existence  on  account  of  the  sin  of  pro- 
miscuous intercourse,  aside  from  the  physical  consider- 
ations. It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  Church  has  been 
slow  to  take  an  active  part  in  this  warfare  and  the  philoso- 
phy of  prostitution  becomes  a  more  difficult  problem 
therefore. 

Mandeville,  250  years  ago  said,  "  It  is  manifest  that 
there  is  a  necessity  of  sacrificing  one  part  of  womankind 
to  preserve  the  other." 

Luther  waged  a  merciless  war  against  houses  of  ill-fame. 
Henry  VIII  of  England  suppressed  them;  Berlin,  in  1607, 
closed  them,  since  which  time  they  have  been  closed  and 
opened  many  times.  In  Hindoo  literature  we  find,  "  Let 
the  woman  who  approaches  a  stranger  be  regarded  as  a 
spirit  of  hell." 

The  public  knows  but  little  of  the  enormous  amount  of 
the  psychopathic  state  so  evident  in  the  prostitute  and 
her  co-partner  in  the  awful  practice  of  some  forms  of 
perversion.  Studies  show  that  frequent  visitations  to  the 
brothel  soon  produce  some  form  of  perversion  or  mental 
depravity. 

The  animal  sexual  instinct  is  a  natural  attribute  which 
provides  for  the  preservation  of  the  race.  In  man  with 
intelligence  and  reason  we  frequently  observe  that  knowl- 


CHURCH,  SOCIETY,  AND  SOCIAL  EVIL      151 

edge  of  the  result  of  an  infraction  of  well-known  physical 
laws  does  not  prevent  the  offender  from  committing  acts 
which  he  certainly  knows  may  prove  disastrous  to  him- 
self and  others  dependent  upon  him. 

We  cannot  gain  much  by  discussing  the  primal  cause 
of  prostitution.  To  solve  that  problem  would  be  to  solve 
original  sin  and  the  effect  of  all  of  our  digressions  to-day. 

Comparative  physiology  implies  an  understanding  of 
comparative  normal  anatomy,  hence  in  like  manner  a  study 
of  comparative  social  pathology  means  a  knowledge  of 
man's  nature,  the  composition  and  diseases  of  society, 
which  problem  has  baffled  scientific  men  since  the  beginning 
of  time.  Moral  acts  must  be  mental  acts.  Every  moral 
act  must  embody  a  purpose,  be  a  choice  of  two  or  more 
ends,  and  is  judged  by  the  doer  before  and  after. 

Prostitution  has  always  been  present  with  us.  The  ex- 
planation is  quite  clear;  the  animal  nature  for  sexual  in- 
tercourse unrestrained  by  custom  and  philosophy  of  the 
various  ages  and  places.  Let  us  not  criticise  others  who 
have  lived  in  a  darker  age  for  committing  acts  repulsive 
to  our  day,  for  history  shows  that  many  of  the  ancients 
while  practicing  idolatry  and  strange  customs  were  far 
superior  to  some  of  our  intelligent  men.  These  same 
heathen  would  shudder  at  the  sight  of  some  of  the  modern 
sexual  sins  and  horrible  deeds  practiced  by  those  living 
on  vice  to-day. 

Laws  of  state  take  no  recognition  of  any  inequality  in 
man's  liability  and  responsibility.  There  is  no  variability 
in  the  results  of  physical  laws  broken  by  the  rich  or  the 
poor,  other  things  being  equal.  But  the  divine  judge  who 
alone  can  administer  to  the  wants  of  all  persons  and 


152  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

knows  that  each  individual  is  a  great  composite  of  many 
ancestors  and  that  each  individual  is  constrained  by  dif- 
ferent influences,  will  certainly  take  into  account  these 
differences,  else  such  a  judge  does  not  exist. 

Virtue  and  vice  are  only  relative  terms.  In  some  per- 
sons a  state  of  neutrality  exists  and  there  is  neither  pres- 
ent; this  is  due  to  defect. 

The  sex  attraction  is  rightly  called  the  master  passion. 
When  all  goes  well  with  this  passion  and  its  belongings, 
the  whole  passion  and  nature  becomes  an  instrument  of 
music  and  harmony.  When  reverses  are  met,  the  emo- 
tional nature  is  convulsed  and  there  is  no  longer  music 
but  harsh  discord.  The  passion  can  produce  the  most 
exquisite  pleasure  or  direful  misery.  Its  powers  for  gra- 
cious mercies  or  for  wrathful  vengeance  knows  no  bounds. 

Man's  actions  are  largely  controlled  by  and  he  labors 
for,  woman,  pleasure  and  money.  The  fight  against  sin  is 
the  struggle  against  the  methods  and  customs  for  obtain- 
ing these  three  desires.  The  desire  for  these  three  may 
be  right  or  wrong.  When  there  is  no  desire  for  these 
three  upon  the  part  of  man  there  is  decadence  or  defect. 
Religious  sentiment,  reverence,  piety,  contrition,  sorrow, 
charity  and  abstinence  are  frequently  the  result  of  experi- 
ences in  pursuit  of  these  three  things  or  on  account  of 
some  physical  inability  to  pursue  them. 

Each  individual  is  in  a  large  sense  a  law  unto  himself, 
in  that  no  two  persons  are  created  alike  in  ability  to  react 
in  the  same  way  to  similar  stimuli.  Lower  the  power  of 
resistance,  increase  the  susceptibility  to  reactions  or  in- 
crease the  stimulus  in  the  way  of  temptations  and  man 
will  sin  more  easily.  The  effect  is  more  positive  if  any 


CHURCH,  SOCIETY,  AND  SOCIAL  EVIL      153 

one  or  more  of  these  conditions  are  made  continual  in 
action. 

Ask  the  man  why  he  commits  sexual  sins  and  he  replies, 
"  Eve  tempted  me."  Ask  the  woman  in  turn  and  the  an- 
swer is,  "  The  serpent  man  is  responsible."  The  solution 
is  as  unsatisfactory  as  the  biological  problem  of  which 
came  first,  the  hen  or  the  egg. 

In  all  attempts  to  restrict  and  eliminate  the  social  evil, 
the  honest  worker  is  always  under  the  influence  of  three 
classes  of  persons:  (1)  Those  who  say  that  prostitution 
has  always  been  present  with  us  and  it  will  always  exist. 
All  attempts  to  eliminate  must  prove  fruitless.  (8)  The 
only  way  to  solve  the  problem  is  to  close  all  houses  at 
once.  (8)  A  class  between  the  first  two,  who  acknowledge 
the  tremendous  task  but  are  willing  to  assist  or  encourage 
methods  of  minimizing  this  evil.  In  the  second  class  we 
find  many  who  demand  "  all  or  none  "  should  be  eliminated. 
Churches  have  refused  to  assist  for  this  reason ;  but  I  am 
glad  to  state  that  very  many  of  the  churches  are  becoming 
very  active  in  the  fight  against  vice,  knowing  that  to  save 
a  certain  number  of  girls  is  better  than  none,  and  helping 
to  eventually  reduce  the  evil  to  a  minimum  or  eliminate 
public  prostitution  entirely  if  possible. 

The  Church  has  learned  that  religion  and  efforts  to 
improve  must  be  practical.  It  realizes  that  there  can  be 
less  discussion  of  "  Moses  and  the  bulrushes,"  "  The 
dividing  of  the  Red  Sea,"  and  "  The  fall  of  Jericho,"  and 
more  work  like  that  done  by  Christ  and  the  Apostles  who 
went  into  the  midst  of  sinners  and  who  did  not  make  a 
difference  of  rank  and  file.  The  Church  must  not  be 
afraid  to  soil  its  hands;  it  must  know  that  prevention  is 


154  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

better  than  cure.  The  organization  of  the  Church  must 
put  aside  petty  jealousies  and  labor  together  for  the  great 
common  good  of  all.  There  must  be  a  definite  purpose 
in  an  organization.  Citizens  are  willing  to  assist  and 
donate  money  to  a  society  which  does  things,  but  not  for 
organizations  which  simply  elect  officers  and  meet  from 
time  to  time.  The  Church  must  realize  its  power ;  it  must 
fight  vice  with  the  weapons  they  use,  but  in  a  proper  way. 
If  the  Church  forces  were  organized  like  a  political  party, 
it  could  compel  the  agents  of  the  devil  to  get  out  of  busi- 
ness in  a  very  short  time. 

The  Church  must  improve  society  by  studying  the  con- 
stitution of  society  and  its  individual  members  and  the 
factors  which  cause  public  opinion  to  be  expressed  as  it  is 
to-day.  Society  must  not  be  allowed  to  sanction  evil 
things.  Society  permits  the  young  man  to  sow  his  wild 
oats,  but  ostracizes  the  girl  who  has  the  stigma  of  having 
led  a  life  of  suspicion.  Society  permits  illegitimate  chil- 
dren and  forgets  the  man  who  sinned,  but  forbids  the 
woman  to  regain  her  lost  honor.  Society  permits  the 
man  to  disease  wives  and  children,  causing  frequent  muti- 
lations and  removal  of  woman's  sex  organs,  but  forbids 
that  laws  be  enacted  to  prevent  these  things.  Society 
permits  married  men  to  support  affinities,  mistresses,  and 
support  houses  of  prostitution,  but  forbids  efforts  to 
ostracize  these  men.  Society  permits  men  to  see  the 
sights,  to  get  drunk,  beat  their  wives,  but  forbids  woman 
to  do  such  things.  Society  permits  our  daughters  to 
marry  any  man  who  may  have  money  or  a  position,  but 
forbids  a  man  from  marrying  any  but  a  virtuous  woman 
— -  one  who  has  never  sinned. 


CHURCH,  SOCIETY,  AND  SOCIAL  EVIL      155 

Man  will  defend  his  flag  and  country  to  death  if  neces- 
sary, but  he  makes  little  effort  to  save  the  daughters  from 
a  life  of  shame.  The  man  who  insults  the  flag  may  be 
shot,  but  he  who  despoils  the  virtue  of  a  girl,  often  start- 
ing her  on  a  life  of  shame  is  allowed  to  live  as  an  honor- 
able citizen. 

The  Titanic  disaster  produced  a  gloom  to  be  spread 
over  civilized  countries  for  months,  but  there  is  every  day 
in  our  own  land  more  women  going  down  to  much  more 
miserable  graves,  which  could  be  prevented,  of  which  little 
is  said.  There  are  no  head  lines  in  the  papers  of  this 
great  catastrophe.  We  fought  against  the  sin  of  a  phys- 
ical black  slavery,  but  we  are  content  to  permit  a  more 
disastrous  physical  and  moral  white  slavery.  Oh,  the 
awful  tragedy  of  human  lives !  How  inconsistent  in  so- 
ciety. 

The  citizens  are  responsible  for  the  officers  who  en- 
force the  laws.  Many  citizens  permit  vice  and  complain 
of  conditions,  but  do  nothing.  In  a  speech  before  the 
United  States  Senate,  John  C.  Calhoun  once  said,  "  So- 
ciety can  no  more  exist  without  government  in  one  form 
or  another,  than  man  without  society.  The  political  then 
is  man's  natural  state;  it  is  the  one  for  which  his  Creator 
formed  him,  into  which  he  is  impelled  irresistibly  and  the 
only  one  in  which  his  race  can  exist  and  all  of  his  faculties 
be  fully  developed." 

Are  we  awake  to  the  situation?  Do  we  support  the 
good  candidate?  Do  we  always  take  an  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  the  community  and  show  that  interest  in  the 
same  degree  as  the  friends  of  vice?  In  the  future,  organ- 
izations will  be  powerful,  not  for  the  politician  or  a  party, 


156  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

but  for  the  good  of  society.  Be  optimistic;  times  are 
getting  better  and  will  still  continue  to  improve.  Our 
homes  will  be  as  in  the  good  old  days  when  parents  knew 
each  other  and  when  they  were  well  acquainted  with  their 
own  children.  There  will  be  better  efforts  for  sanitation 
and  pleasure  and  the  poorer  classes  and  the  children  will 
not  be  compelled  to  seek  companionship  in  dens  of  vice. 
It  will  be  a  disgrace  for  a  young  man  to  do  those  things 
he  has  been  permitted  to  do.  The  drunken  man  will  not 
be  able  to  obtain  employment.  The  lawmaker,  the  pro- 
fessional and  business  man  cannot  have  his  mistress  and 
have  a  standing  in  society.  Wages  of  women  are  being 
increased  and  beauty  of  women  will  not  be  a  curse  as  it 
has  been  to  many. 

We  are  our  brother's  keeper ;  society  must  care  for  and 
protect  the  weak.  The  almighty  dollar  must  not  reign 
supreme  and  the  sin  of  selfishness  must  be  destroyed. 


FEMALE  LABOR;  EFFECT  ON  OUR  HOMES 

IS  woman  to-day  as  able  to  bring  forth  healthy  chil- 
dren and  care  for  them  as  in  former  generations? 
Does  the  fact  that  each  year  more  women  are  gain- 
fully employed  fill  us  with  alarm  for  the  future  of  this 
glorious  land  of  plenty  and  liberty?  The  economists  and 
sociologists  do  not  agree  as  to  the  answer  of  these  ques- 
tions. The  eugenist  has  now  entered  the  arena  of  discus- 
sion and  declares  that  the  problem  be  considered  in  the 
light  of  health  of  parents  and  the  ability  and  willingness 
of  the  female  breadwinner  to  reproduce,  giving  us  off- 
spring, strong  and  free  from  disease  and  mental  defects. 
We  dare  not  dispute  statistics  given  in  the  United 
States  Census  reports.  A  few  of  these  are  interesting 
and  will  be  useful  for  comparison  with  the  part  played  by 
men  and  women  in  providing  for  the  home  in  earlier  times. 
In  1880,  16  per  cent,  of  the  breadwinners  in  the  United 
States  were  females.  In  1900  it  had  increased  to  20  per 
cent.  To-day  it  is  somewhat  higher.  In  1900,  43  per 
cent,  of  the  female  Negro  population  over  sixteen  years 
of  age  were  classed  as  wage  earners.  In  1900  there  were 
almost  5,000,000  female  wage  earners  in  the  United  States. 
Among  these  were  classed  the  following:  700,055  agricul- 
tural pursuits,  338,144  dressmakers,  328,935  laundresses, 
327,206  teachers  and  professors,  231,458  textile-mill 
operatives,  146,929  housekeepers  and  stewardesses,  142,- 
265  saleswomen,  138,724  seamstresses,  108,916  nurses 

157 


158  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

and  midwives,  106,916  laborers  not  specified,  85,086  sten- 
ographers and  typewriters,  82,936  milliners,  81,000  clerks 
and  copyists,  72,896  bookkeepers,  61,571  tailoresses, 
59,010  musicians  and  teachers. 

In  1909  there  were  1,300,000  females  over  sixteen  years 
of  age  engaged  in  the  manufacturing  industries.  In  these 
industries  32  per  cent,  of  all  the  employees  in  Rhode  Is- 
land were  females  over  sixteen  years,  while  in  Arizona 
they  found  but  6  per  cent,  of  those  employed.  These 
figures  are  accounted  for  by  the  reason  that  in  Rhode 
Island  a  large  part  of  the  people  are  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing and  but  few  in  the  Western  States.  In  these 
industries  almost  13  per  cent,  of  all  employed  were  under 
sixteen  years  of  age,  both  sexes,  while  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  only  2  per  cent,  were  under  sixteen.  The  dif- 
ference in  the  child  labor  laws  of  the  various  States  ex- 
plains the  situation. 

Women  are  found  in  all  the  303  occupations  reported 
for  man,  except  eight,  viz.,  soldiers,  sailors,  marines, 
street-car  drivers,  apprentices  to  roofers  and  slaters,  fore- 
women of  fire  departments,  helpers  to  steam  boilermakers, 
helpers  to  brass  workers.  Certainly  no  man  would  dare  to 
say  that  there  are  not  many  women  physically  able  to  do 
the  work  of  a  soldier  or  a  street-car  driver,  were  she  com- 
pelled to  do  so.  There  have  been  some  very  good  female 
soldiers  in  men's  clothing  in  every  war.  Who  said  women 
were  the  weaker  sex?  They  require  less  food,  less  sleep, 
and  less  clothing,  and  they  do  not  succumb  to  cold  and 
physical  exertion  more  quickly  than  man.  The  wonder 
is  that  modern  young  women  do  not  die  off  by  thousands, 
yes,  tens  of  thousands  from  pneumonia,  on  account  of  lit- 


FEMALE  LABOR  159 

tie  dress,  lowering  their  power  of  resistance;  but  do  they? 
They  are  slowly  getting  back  to  nature. 

In  Pittsburgh  the  census  of  1900  gave  22,000  women 
working  gainfully.  Of  this  total  we  find  the  following: 

7,000  servants. 
1,800  dressmakers. 
1,000  saleswomen. 
1,400  teachers. 
1,000  laundresses. 

800  stenographers. 

650  nurses. 

Many  of  these  figures  are  more  than  doubled  to-day. 
Of  the  22,000,  13,000  live  at  home  and  9,000  board,  in- 
cluding those  living  with  their  employers.  In  the  United 
States  about  60  per  cent,  of  the  working  women  are  sin- 
gle, 18  per  cent,  married,  and  22  per  cent,  widowed  or 
divorced. 

Having  studied  these  figures,  which  are  increasing  rap- 
idly each  year,  together  with  the  fact  that  before  long 
women  will  have  the  right  to  equal  suffrage  with  men,  we 
must  decide  as  well  as  possible  whether  female  labor  is 
making  society  better  or  not. 

The  position  of  woman  has  varied  with  time  and  coun- 
try. Her  position  here  to-day  is  quite  different  from 
that  of  100  years  ago.  She  has  attained  a  certain  inde- 
pendence for  herself,  has  become  more  like  man  in  many 
respects ;  but  is  she  held  in  the  same  reverence  as  then  ? 
We  must  remember  that  the  girls  of  to-day  will  be  the 
mothers  of  to-morrow.  Primitive  woman  was  the  execu- 
tive part  of  the  house  in  many  respects.  To  a  large  ex- 


160  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

tent  she  was  the  owner  of  the  household  and  all  looked 
up  to  her  for  the  fruits  of  the  soil.  Noble  man  could  not 
stoop  to  do  the  menial  work ;  he  had  to  hunt  and  war  with 
his  neighbors. 

In  early  times,  even  in  the  days  of  our  grandparents, 
the  demands  of  the  home  were  largely  for  protection  from 
the  enemy,  for  food  and  clothing.  To-day  a  large  part 
of  our  population  are  still  struggling  to  obtain  sufficient 
money  to  buy  this  food  and  clothing.  Then  but  little 
money  was  necessary  to  maintain  an  existence.  Barter 
was  common.  Each  planter  raised  his  food,  and  the  wife 
made  the  clothing.  To-day  the  better  classes  strive  to 
procure  a  sufficient  income  for  the  actual  necessities,  more 
comfortable  homes,  more  lavish  dress,  and  no  end  of 
pleasures. 

Almost  in  direct  proportion  as  women  have  had  to  do 
with  tribal  industries,  to  that  extent  were  they  allowed 
to  represent  the  people  in  civic  counsels.  As  they  had 
nothing  to  do  with  things  military,  in  like  manner  they 
had  no  voice  in  the  tribal  military  plans.  Should  woman 
become  the  breadwinner  in  America,  in  a  very  short  time 
she  would  control  political  affairs. 

Roman  women  successfully  (Livy)  blocked  the  streets 
and  approaches  to  the  Forum,  importuning  men  to  vote 
for  the  restoration  of  their  rights.  In  the  wars  which 
had  preceded,  women  were  forbidden  to  wear  jewelry,  etc., 
those  in  power  fearing  that  a  display  of  wealth  by  the 
rich  would  stimulate  class  feeling  and  decrease  patriotism. 
Woman  has  had  to  do  the  most  menial  forms  of  work, 
even  in  civilized  countries;  enlightened  England  in  the 
early  part  of  the  last  century  allowed  women  to  be  har- 


FEMALE  LABOR  161 

nessed  with  mules  in  underground  mines  and  assist  in  the 
hauling  of  coal  cars.  Woman  has  from  early  times  in  cer- 
tain countries  been  made  a  slave ;  she  has  been  compelled 
to  remain  from  the  public  view;  if  on  the  street,  she  was 
heavily  veiled,  that  her  sacredness  would  not  be  endangered 
by  the  eyes  of  wicked  man. 

Society  sees  woman  to-day  in  our  own  fair  land  as  a 
creature  to  be  adored,  to  look  beautiful,  to  bring  forth 
children,  to  care  for  the  home,  to  come  at  man's  beck  and 
call,  to  listen  and  hear  the  wisdom  of  man,  to  receive  the 
required  allowance  and  disburse  same  with  the  greatest 
economy,  to  be  the  ever-present  and  ever-ready  when 
needed,  to  do  little  herself  of  domestic  affairs,  to  have  a 
nursery  and  governess  for  the  children,  to  spend  much 
time  at  bargain  counters,  millinery  openings,  pink  teas, 
bridge  parties,  sewing  societies,  musicales  and  in  the  study 
of  Ibsen  and  Browning. 

The  true  mother  is  pictured  as  the  most  perfect  work 
of  God;  one  who  would  give  all  her  time  and  energy  to 
please  and  make  comfortable  her  children;  one  who  knows 
not  the  meaning  of  fatigue  and  need  of  sleep ;  one  who  had 
no  thought  but  that  of  home,  sweet  home ;  one  who  knows 
nothing  but  virtue.  We  have  seen  her  working  much  with 
little;  with  few  pleasures  but  those  of  comforting  others. 
Thus  we  saw  our  mothers;  may  their  last  days  be  their 
best  days. 

One  writer  who  views  with  alarm  the  elimination  of  men 
from  many  of  the  various  forms  of  business  writes: 
"  When  £0  per  cent,  of  women  (make  the  percentage  as 
small  or  as  large  as  you  please)  become  wage-earners 
primarily  or  solely  that  they  may  live  more  extravagantly, 


162  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

dress  more  beautifully,  or  indulge  in  more  expensive  pleas- 
ures and  luxuries,  we  have  an  artificial  and  an  unhealthy 
economic  condition  that  cannot  endure  forever.  Woman 
cannot  continue  to  supplant  the  male  with  impunity ;  they 
cannot  disturb  the  economic  equilibrium  without  paying 
the  penalty."  He  further  says: 

"  It  is  a  fundamental  economic  truth  that  the  male  is 
the  economic  unit  of  the  social  unit,  the  family.  This  is 
neither  theory  nor  sentiment,  nor  sex  talk;  it  is  adam- 
antine fact ;  it  is  the  basis  of  our  social  system ;  it  is  the 
ancient  rock  upon  which  the  family  is  builded.  Change 
it  and  you  destroy  society ;  disturb  it  and  civilization  must 
perish.  He,  the  husband,  the  male,  is  the  official  head  of 
the  family,  the  official  bread-winner." 

I  am  positive  that  such  an  essay  would  neither  win  a 
prize  in  a  ladies'  seminary,  in  a  suffragette  society,  nor 
with  any  body  of  intelligent  men.  That  writer  has  not 
read  his  ancient  history  well,  nor  does  he  know  that  to-day 
in  thousands  of  homes  the  man  has  refused  to  be  the  bread- 
winner, for  that  noble  creature  is  kept  in  alcohol  and  to- 
bacco by  allowances  given  him  by  the  worker  of  the 
family.  Such  a  man  is  allowed  to  vote  for  men  who  make 
our  children  and  women  to  labor  and  incidentally  he  gets 
an  extra  drink  or  two  on  election  day. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  question  we  have  the  amusing 
statement  of  one  of  our  university  professor  sociologists, 
who  said :  "  The  wife  should  rise  at  6 :30,  prepare  break- 
fast in  fifteen  minutes,  get  the  children  off  to  school,  after 
breakfast,  go  to  work  and  earn  at  least  three-fifths  as 
much  as  her  husband,  come  home  and  prepare  dinner,  keep 
the  house  furnished,  never  gossip,  do  her  own  housework, 


FEMALE  LABOR  163 

retire  at  nine  that  she  may  rise  at  6:30."  It  is  a  pity 
that  the  professor  forgot  to  add  that  such  a  model  wife 
should  be  her  husband's  valet,  carry  a  wireless  station  in 
her  pocket  to  keep  in  touch  with  all  the  great  cities,  and 
for  amusement  sell  a  side  line  of  boots  and  shoes  to  and 
from  work.  Whither  are  we  drifting  in  our  higher  institu- 
tions? Much  learning  certainly  hath  made  some  men 
mad.  Reason  has  certainly  run  riot. 

Whether  it  is  a  blessing  or  not  that  woman  must  at 
times  be  the  bread-winner,  I  am  not  able  to  answer. 
Surely,  could  we  change  conditions  many  of  these  women 
would  not  work  as  they  are  now  compelled  to  do.  But 
even  hard  work  has  its  reward  and  many  women  are  better 
physically  and  morally  by  reason  of  having  to  work. 
From  the  standpoint  of  the  eugenist,  a  large  proportion 
of  women  who  work  are  physically  better  to  become 
mothers  and  will  rear  their  children  with  more  care  than 
many  of  the  idle  society  women  of  to-day.  It  is  to  be 
deplored  that  a  large  number  of  our  women  are  not  able 
to  undergo  the  physical  strain  of  maternity.  Still  more 
disastrous  to  our  nation  is  the  fact  that  many  women 
refuse  to  have  children,  and  if  they  do  have  one  or  two, 
these  are  given  over  to  the  nurse  maid  and  governess  and 
we  have  thousands  of  cases  of  "  the  poor  little  rich  girl." 

The  number  of  women  who  work  and  the  nature  of  their 
labor  varies  much  with  the  part  of  the  country  studied. 
For  example,  in  the  Southern  States  we  find  a  large  per- 
centage of  women  working  in  the  cotton  fields;  these  are 
largely  Negro  women.  In  the  New  England  States  the 
large  number  of  factories  manufacturing  boots,  shoes, 
cotton,  woolen  and  silk  goods  by  machinery  make  female 


164  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

labor  a  necessity.  In  the  large  cities  the  manufacture  of 
clothing,  cigars,  etc.,  determines  the  large  number  of 
women  in  these  occupations.  There  is  a  high  percentage 
of  tuberculosis  among  women  working  with  tobacco.  Since 
it  is  not  so  strenuous  as  some  other  kinds  of  work,  many 
who  are  already  tubercular  seek  employment  in  tobacco 
factories. 

According  to  the  nature  of  the  work  and  the  amount 
of  wages  received,  so  will  the  number  of  women  employed 
be  great  or  small.  In  some  factories  where  the  size  of 
machines  have  been  increased,  it  has  been  necessary  to 
supplant  women  with  men,  since  the  improved  machines 
permit  the  employer  to  pay  sufficient  wages  to  men.  In 
this  connection  we  hear  much  of  women  entering  into  com- 
petition with  men.  It  is  not  strictly  so ;  they  do  not  as  a 
rule  underbid.  Most  women  work  from  necessity.  Our 
social  conditions  are  such  that  we  demand  more  seam- 
stresses, servants,  silks  and  satins,  etc.  Occupations  have 
been  made  for  women. 

As  society  has  created  these  demands  for  comfort,  just 
in  the  same  process  of  social  evolution  do  we  demand  pro- 
fessional women  and  business  women ;  and  opportunities 
are  made  for  the  artists.  Of  the  868  women,  who  are 
classed  as  having  become  eminent  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  337  of  them  were  made  so  by  their  literary  ability. 
To-day,  we  find  women  standing  side  by  side,  with  equal 
ability  in  all  the  professions,  law,  medicine,  and  the  pul- 
pit ;  they  control  large  enterprises ;  they  stand  at  the  head 
of  our  public  schools  and  thus  they  must  be  recognized  as 
a  fixed  part  of  the  heads  of  the  family,  political  affairs  and 
society  in  general. 


FEMALE  LABOR  165 

Could  we  emphasize  maternity  as  a  part  of  woman's 
nature  and  duty,  the  discussion  from  the  standpoint  of 
eugenics  might  end.  But  the  remark  is  continually  heard : 
"  Women  of  ability,  education,  and  position  will  not  marry, 
and  if  they  do,  they  have  no  time  for  children."  This 
phase  of  the  question  is  worth  special  consideration.  One 
hundred  and  forty-two  or  16.3  per  cent,  of  the  world's 
eminent  women  did  not  marry.  In  America  42.6  per  cent, 
did  not  marry.  A  large  per  cent,  of  the  women  who 
graduate  from  Wellesley,  Vassar,  Bryn  Mawr  and  other 
higher  institutions  of  learning  for  women  do  not  marry. 
Why?  They  have  more  important  business  to  attend  to, 
some  will  say.  They  cannot  be  satisfied,  say  others.  But 
be  the  reason  what  it  may,  is  the  country  worse  off  by 
their  not  marrying?  Is  there  not  such  a  thing  as  a  law 
of  compensation  in  a  woman's  work  for  social  betterment 
even  though  she  does  not  marry  and  have  children? 

William  Howard  Taft  in  a  recent  address  to  girls  said: 
"  According  to  your  report,  2,700  girls  have  been  grad- 
uated from  this  school,  and  I  am  glad  to  see  that  only 
260  got  married,"  said  the  former  President. 

"  Now  I  am  not  opposed  to  matrimony,  but  I  am  one 
that  believes  that  there  are  thousands  of  women  who  have 
made  the  world  sweeter,  purer  and  better,  and  who  did 
not  marry.  The  trouble  is  that  many  women  have  to 
.marry  not  because  they  love  the  man  of  their  choice,  but 
because  it  is  a  custom.  The  only  way  to  avoid  that  con- 
dition is  for  the  girl  to  become  independent  by  learning  a 
useful  trade.  Then  when  a  man  who  is  a  scrub  asks  her 
to  marry  she  can  say :  '  I  can  do  better,  as  I  am  in- 
dependent.' In  this  way  she  can  make  no  mistake." 


166  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

We  forget  that  many  more  men  never  become  benedicts. 
Why  not  compel  these  to  marry?  We  know  that  it  is 
easier  for  the  intelligent  woman  to  remain  virtuous  un- 
married than  it  is  for  the  man.  Further,  how  many  of 
our  great  men  and  women  have  descended  from  great 
parents?  In  a  former  chapter  it  was  shown  that  men  of 
genius  seldom  left  children  to  perpetuate  their  great  name. 
And  again,  the  ratio  of  the  number  of  female  college 
graduates  to  the  total  number  of  women  is  so  infinites- 
imally  small  that  we  can  almost  dismiss  the  danger  of 
spinsterhood  and  bachelor  women  from  our  mind  for  a 
few  generations  at  least.  These  good  women  will  assist 
in  compelling  better  working  and  living  conditions  for 
those  who  will  marry  and  we  shall  be  glad  to  have  them 
with  us.  It  was  said  of  old,  "  beware  when  the  world  sets 
loose  a  thinking  man."  The  same  can  now  well  be  said 
of  women.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  majority  of 
women  will  marry.  Very  many  women  marry  from  neces- 
sity ;  for  fear  of  being  left  helpless  in  the  world ;  they  want 
a  home;  many  wish  an  easier  life;  consequently  the  pro- 
portion of  unmarried  will  not  materially  increase.  It 
appears  greater  because  we  know  so  many  ourselves. 
What  we  want  is  a  study  of  the  women  who  do  bring  chil- 
dren into  the  world.  Let  us  strive  for  more  good,  but 
prevent  the  bad. 

Statistics  from  insane  asylums  and  life  insurance  com- 
panies show  that  a  higher  percentage  of  insane  come  from 
the  class  of  domestics  and  housewives  than  from  women  in 
trades  and  professions,  and  that  longevity  among  women 
has  increased  during  the  last  twenty-five  years.  Most  of 
the  women  who  break  down  from  work  do  so  from  causes 


FEMALE  LABOR  167 

which  are  in  no  way  related  to  sex.  Dr.  Morton  has  shown 
that  women  in  shops,  factories,  etc.,  only  pay  one-half  as 
much  for  their  lunch  as  do  the  men ;  also  that  there  has 
been  less  illness  in  those  factories  where  a  substantial  lunch 
was  provided  for  the  employees.  Of  one  thing  we  can  be 
certain,  the  working  girl  is  seldom  lazy,  and  will  make  a 
better  mother,  other  things  being  equal,  than  the  girl 
who  "  dolls  herself  "  and  spends  her  time  at  matinees  and 
evening  parties.  By  being  usefully  employed,  I  do  not 
mean  to  infer  that  all  girls  should  become  a  wage-earner 
in  the  literal  sense.  Work  as  a  part  of  one's  nature,  from 
necessity  or  because  we  are  active  animals  may  be  made 
manifest  in  many  ways  and  places.  Work  for  others  is  a 
great  blessing  to  those  who  can  find  the  opportunity  for 
developing  one's  self. 

A  recent  contemporary  writer,  discussing  the  "  Discon- 
tent of  Women,"  concluded  with  the  statement,  "  the 
proper  study  of  mankind  is  woman."  To  answer  the  ques- 
tion why  women  work  would  require  a  very  exhaustive 
study  of  economics.  A  large  percentage  of  the  entire 
number  employed  work  because  of  the  necessity  of  sup- 
porting, besides  themselves,  one  or  more  members  of  the 
families.  In  Great  Britain  12,000,000  are  under,  or  on, 
the  poverty  line.  In  the  United  States  the  number  is  not 
so  great.  Quite  a  few  women  in  this  country  work  not  on 
account  of  poverty,  but  as  a  matter  of  family  pride  and 
vanity  on  the  part  of  the  person  working.  As  the  social 
conditions  of  the  times  have  demanded  so  much  of  actual 
necessities  and  much  of  unnecessary  extravagance,  it  is 
frequently  obligatory  on  the  part  of  all  members  of  a 
family  who  can  make  a  dollar  to  do  so.  There  is  nothing 


168  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

but  sympathy  for  those  women  who  must  support  several 
children  left  fatherless  and  penniless  at  the  same  time. 
There  is  much  pity  for  the  mothers  and  daughters  who 
have  to  labor  hard  to  provide  for  the  home  in  which  the 
father  and  husband  exists  as  a  worthless  drunkard ;  or 
perchance  he  may  be  an  invalid,  in  both  of  which  cases  the 
mother  and  daughters  are  doubly  burdened  by  the  extra 
expense  necessary  to  care  for  these  men,  who  must  live. 

As  has  been  so  well  explained  by  James  J.  Hill,  the  rail- 
road magnate,  one  of  the  great  dangers  of  this  nation 
is  the  extravagant  way  of  living.  Families  of  very  lim- 
ited means  may  have  a  table  laden  with  delicacies  fit  for 
a  millionaire ;  homes  where  the  building  is  dilapidated,  chil- 
dren with  hardly  enough  clothes  to  cover  the  body  in  a 
respectable  manner,  may  have  a  new  piano  in  the  front 
room,  often  placed  there  in  order  that  the  young  lady 
might  tell  her  friends  of  her  piano  lessons,  or  the  young 
man  who  sees  no  other  room  will  think  them  well  to  do. 

Granting  that  some  families  so  desire  to  show  off  by 
having  a  piano  and  a  fairly  presentable  front  room,  is  not 
such  an  arrangement  often  better  for  the  family,  especially 
the  girls?  Will  they  not  become  better  women?  Their 
ideals  of  home  life  are  thus  much  higher  than  their  less 
fortunate  associates,  who  have  no  place  to  entertain  their 
friends,  as  a  lack  of  which  these  tend  to  drift  to  the  streets. 
If  there  is  any  injustice  in  some  girls  working  for  pin 
money,  there  is  no  doubt  a  real  just  compensation  in  the 
creation  of  the  higher  ideals  and  a  desire  for  the  better 
things  of  life,  provided  such  work  is  of  a  healthy  nature 
and  socially  safe  and  sane. 

Many  of  our  girls  and  women  do  not  like  to  be  confined 


FEMALE  LABOR  169 

at  home :  they  do  not  like  the  humdrum  of  this  quiet  life, 
and  consequently  seek  some  form  of  employment,  respect- 
able and  at  the  same  time  remunerative.  Others  will  work 
at  something  until  they  can  attain  their  chief  aim  in  life  — 
marriage. 

The  daughters  of  the  farmer  usually  have  work  enough 
at  home  to  keep  them  busy,  and  there  is  not  the  call  of 
the  excitement  of  the  city  to  attract  them ;  they  do  not 
need  to  worry  about  dress  as  do  their  city  cousins,  and  as 
a  result  of  the  different  conditions  we  find  a  very  small 
proportion  of  women  from  our  country  homes  gainfully 
employed. 

Much  has  been  written  and  great  fear  has  been  shown 
regarding  the  displacement  of  good  young  men  by  women. 
I  grant  that  some  of  the  arguments  are  good.  Girls  who 
do  not  need  to  work  have  no  right  to  demand  a  position 
which  should  be  filled  by  deserving  young  men.  Still,  in 
many  cases,  it  is  not  the  young  women  who  are  so  much  to 
blame  as  the  parents  and  the  employers  who  desire  women 
employees. 

There  are  two  factors  which  are  influencing  very  much 
the  necessity  of  women  working,  particularly  married 
women  and  widows,  viz.,  compulsory  education  and  child 
labor  laws.  Since  the  law  forbids  many  boys  working  at 
night  and  under  sixteen,  at  certain  occupations,  this  com- 
pels many  a  woman  to  work. 

The  worst  feature  of  women  working  is  not  the  physical 
side  by  any  means,  for  in  many  cases  the  proper  kind  of 
employment  and  limited  number  of  hours  ensures  health 
better  for  this  work.  It  is  the  effect  upon  the  home  and 
society  which  is  commanding  the  attention  of  many  of  our 


170  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

students  of  sociology.  Can  a  woman  be  a  good  mother 
and  be  absent  from  home  the  entire  day?  Can  she  leave 
the  little  children  with  a  girl  of  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age? 
Can  she  leave  her  children  in  a  day  nursery,  where  they 
are  mingling  with  others  whose  physical  and  moral  natures 
are  probably  questionable?  Can  the  young  girl  be  away 
from  home  all  day  and  much  of  the  evening  and  develop 
in  all  respects  as  she  should?  When  we  remember  that  in 
the  last  census  report  that  almost  45  per  cent,  of  the 
women  employed  did  not  live  at  home ;  when  we  should 
remember  that  every  child  should  have  at  least  a  certain 
amount  of  the  mother's  time  for  its  training,  which  cannot 
be  granted  when  she  works  in  a  factory  all  day  and  at 
home  till  late  at  night;  when  we  remember  that  many 
women  who  work  are  continually  placed  in  the  society  of 
unscrupulous  men,  these,  together  with  many  other  factors, 
make  it  plain  that  this  phase  of  the  question  is  a  very 
important  one. 

A  further  factor  in  the  home  relations  and  that  of 
society  is  seen  in  the  wage  problem  of  working  women.  It 
has  been  variously  estimated  that  for  the  same  kind  of 
work  man  receives  from  two  to  three  times  as  much  pay 
as  does  woman ;  in  some  cases  this  is  determined  by  piece 
work,  the  men  doing  much  more  than  the  women.  The 
amount  of  the  work  does  not  always  determine  the  rate  of 
wages,  for  in  many  an  instance  the  girl  will  receive  more 
than  the  young  man  equally  good  would  gladly  work  for. 
This  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  many  employers  want 
girls  in  their  employ.  Some  are  employed  when  not  needed 
and  the  salary  is  raised  for  reasons  which  do  not  need 
explanation. 


FEMALE  LABOR  171 

A  woman  cannot  be  as  good  a  mother  if  absent  from  her 
children  as  if  she  were  at  home.  It  is  true  some  women 
who  work  away  from  home  are  better  mothers  than  many 
who  are  at  home  and  at  leisure,  but  these  women  would  be 
still  better  could  they  devote  the  time  to  their  homes  which 
they  would  like  to  give. 

In  the  use  of  modern  machinery  where  a  woman  has  to 
follow  from  two  to  ten  needles  with  her  eyes,  in  many  cases 
in  shirtwaist  factories  where  the  hours  are  long  and  the 
surroundings  very  unsanitary,  in  work  of  toymakers, 
workers  in  various  metals,  in  factories  where  there  is  a 
large  amount  of  dust,  in  stores  where  the  girl  has  to  stand 
on  her  feet  all  day  —  in  these  and  many  other  places  much 
worse  conditions  exist  which  certainly  shorten  the  lives  of 
these  women  very  much.  As  our  eugenic  laws  are  im- 
proved, and  the  employer  is  compelled  to  learn  more  of 
the  physiological  demands  of  a  woman's  nature,  just  so 
soon  will  the  effect  of  work  upon  woman's  health  be  less 
dangerous.  But  let  us  not  forget  that  the  women  at  home, 
with  many  small  children,  frequently  suffer  more  than 
their  sisters  who  are  classed  as  working  women. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  tne  effect  of  female  labor 
upon  morals.  The  demand  for  a  sufficient  amount  of 
money  for  dress,  which  exceeds  by  far  that  which  the  girl 
is  making;  the  association  of  girls  and  boys  in  factories, 
the  demand  for  recreation  after  a  hard  day's  labor  which 
cannot  be  found  in  the  home  of  one  or  two  rooms,  the 
pleasures  of  the  dance  hall,  theater,  cafe,  etc.,  with  ac- 
quaintances casually  met,  all  are  very  powerful  in  deter- 
mining just  what  a  girl  will  do. 

Woman  can  be  the  most  merciful  being,  but  on  the  other 


172  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

hand  she  can  be  the  most  cruel.  Her  passions  have  no 
bounds.  The  story  of  Octavia,  sister  of  Octavius,  and  wife 
of  Mark  Antony,  shows  the  faithful  devotion  to  the  base 
Mark,  who  falls  a  prey  to  the  wiles  of  his  captor,  Cleo- 
patra. I  mention  these  characteristics  of  woman's  nature 
to  show  that  when  she  once  starts  on  the  downward  path 
she  seldom  returns.  She  recognizes  that  the  world  is 
against  her,  and  she  cares  for  naught.  Many  men  reform 
from  a  wayward  life,  but  few  women. 

The  economist  would  naturally  desire  conditions  to  be 
such  that  few  women  would  have  to  work  for  their  living. 
The  indications  are  that  the  opposite  results  would  be 
evident,  especially  in  the  better  occupations.  Woman  is 
asserting  herself;  she  is  educating  herself  in  a  manner 
similar  to  man ;  she  has  business  capabilities  and  soon,  un- 
less reform  occurs  with  the  men,  she  will  be  a  very  power- 
ful political  factor.  The  time  is  evidently  ripe.  She  is 
educating  herself  to  the  needs  of  the  situation  and  she  has 
a  desire  to  improve  society.  Some  of  the  female  votes 
will  be  furnished  by  the  class  of  women  who  would  make 
matters  worse  than  at  present,  but  not  the  majority. 

We  need  education,  not  of  colleges,  popular  novels,  or 
the  theater,  but  good  plain  common  sense  education  con- 
cerning the  nature  of  our  body  and  mind.  We  must  study 
each  other  mainly  from  the  psychological  standpoint.  We 
must  learn  the  laws  of  health.  If  this  is  accomplished 
there  will  be  less  need  for  the  study  of  sociology,  which 
to-day  stands  at  the  head  of  the  sciences  which  concern 
man. 

It  is  not  fitting  to  conclude  the  subject  of  female  labor 
without  mentioning  the  question:  What  is  the  matter 


FEMALE  LABOR  173 

with  our  servants?  Just  so  long  as  the  servant  is  held  to 
be  beneath  the  average  girl,  just  so  long  as  she  must  re- 
main aloof  from  the  family,  work  from  sunrise  until  after 
sunset,  with  little  time  for  recreation,  just  so  long  will  this 
question  be  with  us.  The  difficulty  will  increase  until  in  a 
few  years,  as  the  demand  becomes  greater  and  the  native- 
born  servants  are  few,  we  will  have  to  go  to  work  our- 
selves, and  it  will  become  fashionable  to  bake  the  bread, 
do  the  washing,  etc.  Probably  our  atavistic  character- 
istics will  assert  themselves  and  we  will  have  quilting  par- 
ties, house-cleaning  parties,  baking  carnivals,  as  we  had 
the  log-rolling  and  husking  bees  of  old. 

Finally,  men  may  censure  women  for  working,  for  ex- 
travagance and  for  immorality,  but  let  it  be  remembered 
that  the  majority  of  women  would  not  work  were  it  not 
necessary  to  maintain  a  standard  of  life  demanded  by  man. 
Woman  demands  dress,  because  man  chooses  the  well 
dressed  woman.  As  long  as  man  will  endeavor  to  be  the 
aggressor  in  sexual  selection  just  so  long  will  women  con- 
tinue to  try  to  please.  But  should  woman  reign  supreme, 
then  and  not  till  then  will  her  chief  thoughts  be  other  than 
dress. 

Dr.  Simon  Baruch  sums  up  a  discussion  on  Feminism  as 
follows : 

"  Biologically.  If  '  the  male  is  but  an  afterthought  of 
nature,'  as  the  feminists  claim,  and  he  is  typified  in  the 
animal  world  by  the  bull  that  paws,  by  the  rooster  that 
crows,  and  the  drone  that  fusses,  and  the  female  is  typified 
by  the  cow,  the  hen  and  the  bee,  which  quietly  do  the 
work,  then  the  male  deserves  the  fate  of  *  the  spider  which 
is  destroyed  by  the  female.5 


174  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

"  Economically.  If  man,  as  the  American  leader  of  the 
feminists  holds,  has  been  taken  in  as  a  kind  of  extra 
child,  by  the  woman  who  rears,  cooks  and  sews  to  keep  him 
alive,  then  4  the  lord  of  creation  9  should  be  relegated  to 
a  subordinate  place,  and  '  the  wife  and  child  should  not 
be  forced  to  take  his  name.' 

"  Politically.  If  feminism  is  a  revolt  of  women  against 
being  the  *  slaves  or  servants  or  dependents  of  men '  they 
are  entitled  to  emancipation  from  the  yoke,  by  any  means 
in  their  power,  including  the  franchise. 

"  Historically.  If  the  utterances  of  the  feminists  are 
regarded  as  the  vaporings  of  emotional  women  that  '  are 
not  worth  getting  excited  over,'  then  let  it  be  remembered 
that  the  Southern  fire  eating  politicians  similarly  ridiculed 
the  idea  that  '  the  Yankee  would  fight.'  Result,  their  con- 
quest. The  early  woman's  rights  shriekers  were  similarly 
ridiculed  by  the  men.  Result,  women  now  vote  in  ten 
States. 

"  I  have  faith  in  evolution  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 

"  Whether  the  present  discontent  of  women  is  due  to 
biological,  educational,  political  or  economic  causes  is  the 
momentous  problem  before  the  American  people. 

"  The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  woman." 


RACE  SUICIDE 

PHILOSOPHERS  may  be  able  to  explain  the  "  ego," 
"  a  priori "  reasoning,  and  clearly  demonstrate  that 
that  ethereal  substance  does  not  exist,  but  never  has 
any  man,  philosopher  or  fool,  been  able  to  prove  satis- 
factorily why  any  nation  should  say  we  are  populating 
too  rapidly,  or  there  is  not  too  much  race-suicide. 

The  natural  instinct  of  the  animal  is  for  procreation ; 
it  does  not  know  that  offspring  will  be  the  result  of  the 
sexual  relations.  Primitive  man  filled  with  the  animal 
instinct  replenished  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.  In- 
telligence told  civilized  man  that  certain  restrictions 
should  be  thrown  about  the  sex  relations  and  hence  mar- 
riage was  instituted ;  another  example  of  man  still  pos- 
sessing the  instinct,  seen  with  animals  —  that  of  mating. 
Marriage  exists  then  either,  as  in  most  civilized  countries, 
as  monogamy,  or  as  is  practiced  among  the  less  intelligent 
nations  in  the  form  of  polygamy  and  polyandry.  Speak- 
ing of  animal  instinct  in  mating  let  it  be  said  that,  at 
times,  the  lower  animals  care  much  better  for  their  off- 
spring than  some  of  our  intelligent  citizens  do  for  their 
children. 

From  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association 
we  learn  that  Andrew  J.  Peters,  a  member  of  Congress 
from  Massachusetts,  asked  this  rather  startling  question 
at  a  mass  meeting  on  child  labor  held  in  Louisville :  "  Are 
the  children  of  the  United  States  worth  one-seventieth  as 

much  as  the  bugs?  "     Mr.  Peters  showed  that  the  Bureau 

175 


176  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

of  Animal  Industry  cost  $2,051,686.  The  proposed 
children's  bureau  would  cost  $29,440  and  would  investigate 
child  labor,  infant  mortality,  and  other  important  phases 
of  child  conservation.  It  was  opposed,  but  this  bureau 
has  been  established. 

I  interpret  pragmation  to  mean,  "  does  it"  pay  "  ?  or, 
"  is  it  of  value  "  ?  This  must  have  been  the  philosophy  of 
many  ancient  nations,  and  is  even  thought  of  to-day  in 
some  of  our  States  and  the  many  foreign  countries,  where 
a  tax  is  laid  on  those  who  do  not  marry  and  a  pension  is 
given  to  those  families  who  have  a  certain  number  of  chil- 
dren. 

The  pragmatic  or  utilitarian  idea  was  much  in  vogue 
in  Rome;  Caesar  rewarded  those  who  had  children,  and 
Augustus  placed  a  severe  penalty  on  all  who  did  not 
marry.  Those  who  had  many  children  were  given  the 
special  favors ;  for  instance,  they  were  given  the  best  seats 
at  the  theater.  Women  who  did  not  have  children  were 
not  allowed  to  wear  jewelry.  Those  who  see  disaster  in 
our  increasing  race  suicide  might  suggest  that  unmarried 
men  could  not  go  to  the  ball  games,  and  married  women 
who  did  not  have  children  could  not  wear  the  latest  dresses 
and  millinery.  Very  soon  the  marriage  license  court  and 
the  stork  would  be  working  overtime.  To  still  further 
increase  the  population  of  the  Roman  Empire  men  of 
sixty  years  of  age  and  over  were  not  allowed  to  marry 
women  under  forty.  These  laws  were  made  necessary  by 
reason  of  the  country  having  been  depleted  of  men  by 
wars. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  question  we  find  that  two  cen- 
turies ago  the  Isle  of  Formosa  did  not  allow  women  under 


RACE  SUICIDE  177 

thirty-five  years  of  age  to  have  children,  all  such  preg- 
nancies had  to  be  interrupted ;  Aristotle  advised  abortions ; 
in  some  countries  the  weaklings  were  killed,  and  in  China 
the  girl  babies  were  thrown  into  the  Ganges.  Here  we 
see  that  either  they  were  not  sufficiently  strong,  or  re- 
ligious beliefs  demanded  the  sacrifice  of  the  young.  To- 
day some  men  have  dared  to  advise,  as  was  compelled  in 
the  West  Indies,  that  children  of  ten  and  twelve  marry 
in  order  that  there  be  more  families  upon  whom  tribute 
would  be  exacted. 

In  Pennsylvania  in  1911  there  were  reported  212,994* 
births  (excluding  still  births)  and  111,286  deaths.  In 
Pittsburgh  in  1912  there  were  15,050  births  and  8,769 
deaths  from  all  causes.  There  were  1,818  deaths  of  in- 
fants under  one  year  of  age.  In  1912  there  were  300,000 
deaths  in  the  United  States  under  one  year  of  age.  In 
New  York  City  (Manhattan)  in  1912  there  were  66,249 
births,  with  2,547  deaths  in  infants  aged  under  one  month ; 
a  slightly  lower  rate  (3.9  per  cent.)  than  that  of  the 
previous  year.  Of  the  deaths  there  were  7,675  in  in- 
fants under  one  year.  Thus,  34.5  per  cent,  of  the  deaths 
in  infants  under  one  year  occurred  in  the  first  four  weeks 
of  life.  Vital  statistics  in  this  country  and  Europe  prove 
that  from  one-fourth  to  one-half  of  the  deaths  in  children 
occur  within  the  first  month. 

In  Germany  in  1906  there  were  62,261  still  births.  In 
New  York  City  in  1911  and  1912  there  were  6,749  still 
births,  5  per  cent,  of  all  the  births. 

The  following  figures  of  the  annual  death  rate  of  in- 
fants is  very  significant: 


178  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Death  Rate  per  1,000  Births 

Germany,      1906      198 

England  and  Wales,  1903 125 

United  States,   1900    149 

Census  1900,  United  States 

106    cities    excess  of  175 

49  cities between  175  and  200 

38  cities   between  200  and  250 

10  cities   between  250  and  300 

9    cities    excess  of  300 

Charleston,  S.  C 419 

Savannah,   Ga 287 

From  an  eugenic  standpoint  the  economic  importance 
of  this  subject  in  certain  European  countries,  especially 
Germany  and  France,  has  been  engaging  the  attention  of 
these  governments,  and  the  question  of  infant  mortality  is 
being  studied  with  great  interest.  In  all  European  coun- 
tries a  steadily  declining  birthrate  is  evident.  This  de- 
cline in  the  last  twenty-five  years  in  eleven  European  coun- 
tries has  been  from  an  average  of  83.7  per  thousand  of 
population  to  30  per  thousand,  or  about  10  per  cent,  of 
births.  The  fall  is  least  in  Ireland,  Norway,  and  Sweden, 
and  greatest  in  England,  Germany,  and  Italy,  Austria 
and  Hungary.  In  the  best  residential  portion,  the  present 
birth-rate  is  four  per  thousand  of  population;  while  in 
districts  occupied  chiefly  by  Italians  and  Russian  Jews,  it 
is  from  forty  to  forty-five  per  thousand. 

We  dare  not  dispute  the  fact  that  race  suicide  is  the 
prevailing  spirit  in  most  civilized  countries.  Franklin 
stated  that  in  the  Colonial  times  the  families  averaged 
eight  children.  To-day  less  than  two  children  are  found 


RACE  SUICIDE  179 

in  the  native  American  families  to  survive  and  be  able  to 
reproduce  the  race.  As  seen  above,  the  birth-rate  in  the 
best  families  is  only  four  per  thousand,  while  among  the 
foreign  families  it  may  reach  forty  to  forty-five,  or  nine 
times  that  of  the  best  American  families. 

"  We  find  an  analysis  that  as  the  standard  of  education 
in  matters  of  hygiene  increases,  the  number  of  unsuccess- 
ful pregnancies  increases.  We  have  other  statistics  which 
show  that  these  women  who  had  superior  intelligence  also 
had  better  housing  conditions,  better  food,  etc. ;  in  fact 
a  better  condition  as  to  all  the  elements  that  promote 
normal,  full  term  pregnancy.  Even  considering  the  pos- 
sible existence  of  greater  frequency  of  diseases  predis- 
posing to  miscarriage,  we  are  obliged  to  reason  from  such 
figures  that  these  more  sophisticated  women  have,  in 
greater  proportion,  taken  measures  to  avoid  the  respon- 
sibility of  additional  maternity." — Dr.  George  J.  Engel- 
mann,  in  "  Race  Decline.9' 

In  New  York  nearly  one-half  of  the  women  yearly  de- 
livered have  only  the  care  of  midwives  and  do  not  have  it 
early  enough.  Much  has  been  said  about  the  small  fam- 
ilies on  account  of  late  marriages  and  education.  The 
fact  is,  late  marriage  may  and  does  tend  to  lower  the 
morals,  but  it  does  not  surely  diminish  the  number  of  chil- 
dren. Most  children  are  born  within  eight  or  ten  years 
after  marriage ;  some  say  in  from  five  to  seven  years. 
While  less  than  two  children  survive  in  the  families  of 
all  native  Americans,  the  families  of  college  graduates 
show  a  survival  of  2.1  children  in  these  families  of  edu- 
cated parents. 

"  A  set  of  questions,  covering  the  occupation  before 


180  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

marriage,  the  number  of  children,  manner  of  birth,  infant 
feeding,  etc.,  were  sent  to  105  married  graduates  or  former 
students  of  a  successful  normal  school  of  physical  educa- 
tion. The  investigation  covered  a  period  of  nearly  seven- 
teen years.  Of  the  ninety-one  marriages,  twenty-five  have 
been  sterile  to  date.  There  are  living  to-day  at  the  end 
of  almost  seventeen  years,  one  hundred  children.  This 
gives  a  total  death  rate  from  all  causes  of  10.7  per  cent. ; 
70  per  cent,  were  breast-fed  for  periods  varying  from  one 
month  to  twelve  months." — Dr.  Sterling. 

We  now  have  before  us  in  this  discussion  two  important 
eugenic  factors :  race  suicide  and  infant  mortality.  As  to 
the  cause  of  the  first,  there  are  several  causes  given. 
These  are,  extravagant  living  of  to-day  (cost  of  high 
living)  ;  high  cost  of  living ;  desire  to  live  like  the  best ; 
ambition  to  reach  certain  positions  before  having  children ; 
craze  for  pleasures,  and  the  unfaithfulness  of  men  and 
women.  It  is  unnecessary  to  explain  these,  as  they  are 
well  understood.  Probably  the  most  distressing  thing  con- 
cerning race  suicide  is  the  fact  that  thousands  of  women 
are  accused  of  preventing  conception,  while  the  truth  is 
that  these  unfortunate  wives  are  very  desirous  of  having 
children.  The  cause  of  non-fertilitas  matrimonii  may  be 
either  in  the  husband  or  the  wife.  Let  us  be  charitable  to 
woman.  She  does  the  suffering ;  she  gets  the  blame ;  and 
when  she  is  being  told  why  women  suffer  and  die,  may  cry 
out  in  horror :  "  Don't  talk  sex !  "  "  It  is  awful !  "  "  It 
is  nauseating ! " 

The  causes  of  infant  mortality  require  a  little  more 
consideration.  The  causes  of  this  deplorable  condition 
are  almost  purely  eugenic  and  have  to  do  with  the  phys- 


RACE  SUICIDE  181 

ical  side  of  mankind.  The  child  has  a  right  to  be  born 
healthy.  It  is  a  natural  heritage  which  should  be  given 
to  all,  regardless  of  the  position  in  life  of  the  parents. 
Some  one  has  said  that  in  the  ideal  future  the  right  of 
parentage  will  only  be  given  to  those  who  can  reasonably 
assure  their  offspring  a  healthy  birth  and  proper  nurture. 
Healthy  parents  in  a  proper  environment  undoubtedly 
insure  healthy  children. 

One-third  of  the  deaths  in  the  first  year  of  life  are  due 
to  antenatal  causes.  The  most  important  of  these  are 
syphilis,  tuberculosis  and  alcoholism.  A  failure  to 
properly  nourish  children  after  birth  is  the  cause  of  a  still 
greater  proporton  of  deaths  in  childhood.  Four  times  as 
many  deaths  occur  in  bottle-fed  as  in  breast-fed  infants. 
Nearly  every  mother  should  be  able  and  compelled  to 
nourish  her  child.  There  are  certain  exceptions  in  cases 
of  disease  of  the  mother.  Labor  and  social  conditions 
should  permit  the  future  mother  to  prepare  for  this  im- 
portant period  of  child  raising. 

The  heat  of  the  summer  affects  the  milk  of  the  bottle- 
fed  more  than  it  does  the  infant  primarily.  This  milk 
soon  laden  with  bacteria  affects  the  child.  The  effect  of 
the  heat  is  not  so  marked  on  breast-fed  infants. 

Krieg  and  Senteman  have  shown  that  under  the  favor- 
able condition  of  home-comforts  and  surroundings,  mortal- 
ity and  morbidity  among  bottle-fed  infants  are  reduced 
fully  50  per  cent.  The  social  standing  of  the  family  af- 
fects the  mortality  of  breast-fed  infants  but  little,  whereas 
it  is  of  far-reaching  influence  among  bottle-fed  infants. 

According  to  the  first  report  of  the  Children's  Bureau 
of  the  Department  of  Labor,  just  issued,  certain  condi- 


182  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

tions  are  pointed  out  as  coincident  with  a  high  infant 
death  rate  in  Johnstown,  Pa.,  in  which  city  it  has  just 
completed  a  study.  These  investigations  form  a  very 
important  eugenic  study.  It  was  found  that  the  infant 
death  rate  varied  in  various  parts  of  the  same  city.  In 
the  poorest  sections  where  sanitary  conditions  were  at 
their  worst,  the  death  rate  was  £71  per  thousand,  or  more 
than  five  times  that  of  the  choice  residential  section  of  the 
city.  Babies  whose  fathers  earned  less  than  $10  per  week, 
died  at  the  rate  of  256  per  thousand.  Those  whose  fath- 
ers earned  $25  or  more  a  week  died  at  the  rate  of  84  per 
thousand.  Artificially-fed  babies  died  at  a  much  more 
rapid  rate  than  breast-fed  babies.  Where  mothers  were 
employed  a  large  part  of  the  time  in  heavy  work,  babies 
died  at  a  much  more  rapid  rate. 

In  one  group  of  nineteen  mothers  whose  babies  all  died, 
fifteen  had  been  keeping  lodgers,  an  arduous  occupation 
among  the  foreign  women.  According  to  Miss  Julia 
Lathrop,  chief  of  Children's  Bureau,  at  least  300,000 
babies  die  annually  in  the  United  States.  In  this  report  it 
has  been  shown  that  city  and  street  environment,  housing, 
nationality,  mother's  age,  literacy,  married  history,  the 
feeding  of  the  baby,  occupations  of  the  mothers  and  the 
family  earnings  are  very  important  eugenic  factors. 

Dr.  Henry  Koplik  says :  "  The  children  of  parents  who 
suffer  from  organic  diseases,  such  as  syphilis,  tuberculosis, 
heart  disease,  diabetes  or  nutritional  disorders  may  be 
either  premature  or  unfitted  to  live.  We  can  understand 
some  weaknesses  of  the  father,  such  as  syphilis,  pulmonary 
diseases,  general  nutritional  disorders,  etc.,  but  the  in- 
fluence on  the  part  of  the  father  which  causes  the  weak- 


RACE  SUICIDE  188 

ness  of  the  new-born  is,  in  many  phases,  not  as  yet  clear. 
Among  the  working  classes  and  the  absolutely  poor,  lack 
of  proper  food,  rest  and  habits  react  against  the  fetus  and 
produce  a  congenitally  weak  infant." 

We  have  seen  that  the  early  sentiment  of  the  State 
was,  "  We  want  children  that  can  be  useful  to  the  State." 
They  were  demanded  or  eliminated  as  the  case  might  be. 
To-day,  there  are  those  who  believe  in  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  It  is  claimed  that  the  unfit  do  not  survive  infancy 
and  thus  the  race  is  the  better  therefor.  These  same 
persons  lament  the  millions  annually  spent  on  our  feeble 
children,  the  crippled,  the  idiotic,  the  pauper,  and  crim- 
inal classes.  Why  not  allow  them  to  eliminate  them- 
selves? There  might  be  some  semblance  of  humanitarian- 
ism  in  these  demands  if  it  were  true  that  they  were  all 
unfit;  but  many  of  them  are,  strictly  speaking,  unfor- 
tunates and  society  must  do  its  best  to  improve  the  whole. 
Each  part  of  us  is  dependent  upon  the  other  parts.  We 
cannot  live  for  ourselves.  We  are  our  brother's  keeper. 

"  About  10  per  cent,  of  our  population  is  estimated  to 
be  defective  and  so  a  racial  menace.  If  we  succeed  in 
raising  all  infants,  obviously  some  unfit  stock  will  be  raised 
to  reproduce  its  defective  type,  thus  working  injury  to 
the  race.  Theoretically,  a  certain  small  amount  of  dif- 
ferential infant  mortality  seems  socially  allowable  — 
which  it  is  not  —  no  discriminating  procedure  would  be 
practical,  for  it  is  impossible  by  present  means  to  distin- 
guish absolutely  and  certainly  in  early  infancy  between 
the  potentially  fit  and  strong  and  the  grossly  unfit  and 
weak.  We  cannot  lower  our  idea." — Dr.  H.  E.  Jordan, 
in  "  Infant  Mortality  in  the  Light  of  Eugenic  Ideals." 


CRIME 

IT  is  impossible  in  a  short  article  to  give  a  complete 
discussion  of  crime,  its  causes  and  remedies.     It  re- 
quires  volumes    for   the   psychologist   to   explain   the 
workings  of  the  mind  in  the  behavior  of  man  toward  his 
fellow  men.     An  understanding  of  crime  and  a  cure  of  its 
many  forms  would  be  the  attainment  of  the  millennium  — 
an  earthly  heaven.     This  will  not  be  accomplished  at  our 
rate  of  progress  for  some  generations  at  least. 

Acts  criminal  in  some  countries  are  permissible  in 
others.  Most  people  regardless  of  their  geographical 
location,  accept  and  believe  the  teachings  of  their  own 
parents,  church  or  State,  without  a  satisfactory  explana- 
tion as  to  why  they  believe  as  they  do.  Religions  to  a 
great  extent  at  least  are  based  upon  mysticism,  added  to 
which  we  have  superstitions  taught  from  birth  and  which 
become  the  great  determining  principles  in  their  religious 
beliefs. 

To-day  there  is  an  increasing  tendency  on  the  part  of 
our  best  jurists  to  determine  a  criminal's  responsibility 
by  his  mental  ability  to  know  right  and  wrong;  to  know 
whether  the  concrete  thing  is  wrong,  rather  than  his  under- 
standing of  sin  in  general.  The  criminal  is  not  respon- 
sible when  he  is  insane,  even  though  his  insanity  has  been 
caused  by  his  vices.  Further,  the  unsound  mind  must  have 
been  the  cause  of  the  crime  and  overcome  reason,  conscience 
and  judgment.  Illness,  fear,  excitement,  jealousy  and 
frenzy  are  not  excuses  for  crime. 

184 


CRIME  185 

Mill  says :  "  Because  certain  things  are  so  in  our 
experience,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  so  everywhere  and 
always.  Moral  responsibility  does  not  involve  freedom 
of  the  will.  Volition  follows  moral  causes  just  as  physical 
events  follow  their  physical  causes.  Necessity  teaches 
that  a  superior  power  overrules  our  destiny,  and  that  our 
characters  are  formed  for  us,  not  by  us." 

Responsibility  depends  upon  the  conscious  determina- 
tion of  the  will.  As  in  plant  life  we  see  the  influence  of 
tropisms,  viz. :  light,  heat,  electricity,  etc.,  on  its  de- 
velopment and  reproduction,  just  so  in  the  higher  forms 
of  life  do  we  find  the  many  influences  acting  upon  the 
various  natures  of  the  individual.  In  the  human,  reac- 
tions are  very  great  in  many  so-called  physiological  func- 
tions, so  great  at  times  there  is  an  exhibition  of  a  double 
personality,  a  Jekyl  and  Hyde.  More  marked  are  the 
changes  due  to  poverty,  hunger,  passion,  infirmity,  re- 
moval of  sex  organs,  disease  of  organs  producing  internal 
secretions,  etc. 

Having  briefly  mentioned  how  difficult  it  is  to  under- 
stand the  nature  of  man's  mind  and  how  peculiar  are  its 
workings,  we  can  a  little  more  intelligently  look  into  the 
mysteries  of  crime  and  the  remedies  to  be  applied  from 
an  eugenic  viewpoint.  Dr.  Frank  Lydston  says  that  in 
America  there  are  848  anti-social  acts  classed  as  crimes. 
There  are  attacks  upon  public  order,  the  persons  of  in- 
dividuals, upon  government  as  political  crimes  and  against 
the  currency.  In  order  that  any  of  the  foregoing  should 
constitute  a  crime,  the  intent  to  commit  crime  must  be 
shown. 

Charles  E.  George,  LL.B.,  in  "  Causes  of  Degeneracy," 


186  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

says :  "  Crime  is  a  disease  as  much  as  rheumatism.  .  .  . 
There  is  no  difference  between  the  social  offender  and  the 
one  guilty  of  an  act  made  criminal  by  statute,  save  in  the 
degree.  .  .  .  Man  is  born  without  a  conscience.  He  must 
acquire  a  moral  sense  or  will." 

It  is  conservatively  estimated  that  in  the  United  States 
we  are  spending  annually  almost  ninety  million  of  dollars 
to  prevent  crime,  prosecute  and  keep  our  criminals.  And 
the  amount  is  increasing  each  year.  Surely  we  are  able 
to  diminish  this  awful  condition,  where  not  only  the  liber- 
ties and  property  of  man  are  interfered  with,  but  added 
to  these  we  have  untold  miseries  and  countless  souls  sent 
to  perdition. 

Is  there  a  criminal  type  which  can  be  recognized  and 
removed  from  the  rest  of  society?  If  all  persons  now 
having  criminal  nature  were  segregated  would  the  next 
generation  still  show  a  large  number  of  criminals?  Eu- 
genics teaches  that  a  very  large  part  of  crime  could  be 
prevented  by  not  permitting  the  criminal  of  the  low  type 
to  procreate  his  kind,  by  segregating  the  mentally  defec- 
tive who  breed  criminals  and  by  improving  our  social  con- 
ditions in  such  a  way  that  certain  criminals  will  not  be 
produced.  I  agree  with  E.  Ruggles-Brise,  the  president 
of  the  British  Prison  Commission,  who  says  in  the  New 
World  and  Crime:  "  Examinations  of  3,000  of  the  worst 
convicts  in  England,  including  measurements,  family  his- 
tory and  mental  and  physical  characteristics,  have  failed 
to  confirm  the  existence  of  a  criminal  type,  both  as  regard 
to  measurements  and  presence  of  physical  anomalies  in 
criminals,  these  statistics  present  a  startling  conformity 
with  similar  statistics  of  law-abiding  classes.  The  idea 


CRIME  187 

that  criminals  are  the  product  of  heredity  has  paralyzed 
efforts  at  reform." 

This  statement  is  almost  contrary  to  the  Italian  school, 
of  which  Lombroso  was  the  great  sponsor.  With  this 
latter  school  the  study  of  the  criminal  from  the  anthropo- 
logical standpoint  was  almost  a  perfect  science.  In  de- 
fense of  these  views  it  must  be  agreed  to  by  those  who 
have  visited  the  rogues'  gallery  and  who  have  stood  before 
an  audience  of  criminals  in  a  penal  institution,  that  there 
is  a  marked  stigma  on  most  of  the  faces.  But  this  crime 
cannot  be  determined  by  their  weight,  stature  or  measure- 
ments of  the  head.  There  are  many  persons  in  the  prisons 
who  appear  normal  and  many  criminal  types  at  large 
who  have  never  been  accused.  The  facial  expression  of 
the  criminal  is  largely  due  to  the  life  that  individual  has 
led  with  his  many  evil  associations.  The  trouble  has  been 
the  penologists  have  studied  only  convicted  criminals,  not 
the  criminal  class.  The  advent  of  the  practical  psy- 
chologist into  the  study  of  abnormal  sociology  is  sure  to 
be  of  much  assistance  in  the  solution  of  crime. 

Dr.  Paul  E.  Bowers,  physician  in  charge  of  the  Indiana 
State  Prison,  states  that  of  2,681  consecutive  admissions 
into  that  institution,  2,293  had  used  alcohol,  and  83  per 
cent,  of  this  latter  number  had  used  it  to  excess.  Over 
one-half  of  all  had  admitted  having  venereal  disease;  1,879 
had  been  previously  convicted;  242  had  been  convicted  of 
perversion  and  inversion  of  the  sex  instinct;  112  were 
actively  insane  when  admitted;  4*7  were  epileptics,  and 
596  were  feeble-minded. 

The  population,  at  the  time  of  1912  report  of  the  Alle- 
gheny County,  Pa.,  Workhouse,  was  827.  There  were 


188  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

committed  during  the  year  3,764;  of  this  number  519 
were  illiterate.  These  were  classified  under  147  different 
occupations;  572  were  committed  for  the  second  time; 
95  for  the  sixth  time ;  17  for  the  sixteenth  time ;  4  for 
the  twenty-ninth  time;  5  for  the  forty-first  time;  7  for 
the  fiftieth  or  more  times ;  299  were  registered  as  ab- 
stainers, 512  as  intemperate,  2,863  as  moderate  drinkers. 
The  cost  to  the  institution  annually  was  over  $300,000. 

A  recent  report  of  Western  Pennsylvania  Penitentiary 
shows  the  annual  cost  of  taking  care  of  the  prisoners  to 
be  $400,000.  The  same  report  of  321  commitments  shows 
that  85  had  been  committed  two  or  more  times,  61  the 
second  time,  5  the  fourth  time,  and  1  the  tenth  time.  Of 
the  prisoners,  58  were  classed  as  abstainers,  51  intemper- 
ate, and  212  moderate  drinkers.  From  observations  of 
the  trial  of  commitment  and  treatment  of  our  prisoners 
and  knowing  that  many  of  them  are  returned  time  and 
again  to  these  penal  institutions,  it  is  compulsory  that 
more  rational  methods  of  study  and  remedy  be  applied. 
There  must  be  a  competent  person  connected  with  every 
penal  institution  as  well  as  homes  for  the  feeble-minded, 
who  can  examine  the  inmates  from  the  standpoint  of  prac- 
tical psychology.  A  real  psycho-analysist  is  the  most 
important,  economic  and  practical  investment  any  institu- 
tion can  make  for  its  defectives  to-day. 

The  population  of  the  various  institutions  in  Pennsyl- 
vania at  the  end  of  the  1914  statistical  year  was  75,410, 
classified  as  follows : 

In  insane  asylums,  hospitals,  state  and  county  insti- 
tutions        18,602 


CRIME  189 

In  homes  for  children  and  aged  persons    19,103 

In  state  hospitals  for  miners 704 

In  various  private  hospitals 9,835 

In  institutions    for    weak   minded    .  . . 3,292 

In  various  reform  schools    1,637 

In  institutions  for  the  blind 337 

In  institutions  for  the  deaf  and  dumb 913 

In  penal  institutions 2,919 

In  jails  and  workhouses    2,030 

In  almshouses    .  .  . 16,101 

There  is  an  annual  increase  of  500  to  600  in  the  num- 
ber of  insane  in  Pennsylvania.  The  annual  cost  of  caring 
for  the  insane  in  Pensylvania  is  $5,000,000.  One  per 
cent,  of  the  total  population  of  the  State  is  cared  for 
during  the  entire  year  by  public  and  private  charities. 


POVERTY  AND  CHARITY 

SCRIPTURE  says :     «  The  poor  ye  have  with  you  al- 
ways and  whensoever  ye  will  ye  may  do  them  good.'1 
There  is  no  reference  to  the  value  of  being  poor  or 
that  it  is  a  necessary  evil.     In  the  above  statement  we 
have  a  condition  of  poverty  and  problematical  charity. 

Some  one  has  wisely  spoken  when  he  said :  "  It  is  bet- 
ter to  build  a  fence  at  the  edge  of  the  precipice  than  a 
hospital  below."  Eugenics  teaches  prevention.  Charity, 
pity  and  humanitarianism,  are  or  are  not  the  means  neces- 
sary for  relief  of  the  poor ;  they  are  the  result  of  a  proper 
spirit  of  love  and  brotherly  interest.  In  the  ideal  there 
should  be  no  poverty,  hence  charity  is  not  idealistic,  for 
without  poverty  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  charity. 
Private  charity  is  not  the  ideal,  but  since  we  are  not  suf- 
ficiently communistic  or  socialistic  we  must  assist  where 
we  may. 

Were  all  of  us  sufficiently  supplied  with  the  material 
things  in  life,  would  the  world  be  better  or  not?  Is  it 
possible  to  deduce  that  in  such  a  state  of  society  that 
misery,  pain  and  sin  would  still  be  present,  since  history 
past  and  present  shows  us  that  these  undesirable  condi- 
tions are  seen  in  the  rich  as  well  as  the  poor?  Or  shall 
it  be  conceded  that  inasmuch  as  individuals  are  different 
physically  and  mentally,  and  that  there  is  no  fixed  state  of 
emotion  and  ability  to  care  for  one's  self  and  those  de- 
pendent, that  a  just  compensation  exists  in  man's  nature 

190 


POVERTY  AND  CHARITY  191 

whereby  the  more  fortunate  man  must  care  for  his  weaker 
brother. 

With  these  introductory  remarks,  we  are  confronted 
with  the  question  at  issue:  Can  the  poor  man  raise  a 
family  which  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  country?  If  not, 
should  he  and  his  family  be  cared  for  at  the  expense  of 
the  taxpayers  and  private  philanthropy?  It  is  estimated 
that  each  year  public  and  private  charities  cost  this  coun- 
try over  $200,000,000.  Then  we  must  believe  that  a  very 
large  number  of  persons  actually  in  desperate  circum- 
stances never  make  known  their  condition  and  never  apply 
for  assistance.  It  is  said  that  10  per  cent,  of  those  who 
die  in  New  York  City  (Manhattan)  are  given  pauper 
burials.  Twenty-five  per  cent,  of  those  living  in  the  large 
cities  of  the  United  States  are  in  a  state  of  poverty  much 
of  the  time. 

Hunter  states  that  81  per  cent,  of  the  families  of  this 
country  are  classed  as  renters,  and  that  in  New  York  City 
94  per  cent,  of  the  people  do  not  own  their  own  homes. 
In  the  United  States  there  are  between  four  and  five  mil- 
lion paupers.  In  New  York  City,  70,000  children  go  to 
school  hungry.  One  per  cent,  of  the  population  owns 
more  than  the  other  99  per  cent.  In  England  it  is  said 
that  there  are  over  1,000,000  rich  persons  who  do  noth- 
ing; many  of  these  own  estates  of  thousands  of  acres  of 
the  best  land  which  would  support  millions  of  people  if 
properly  divided  and  cared  for. 

According  to  a  recent  report  of  a  statement  made  in 
Congress  by  Representative  Buchanan,  he  presented  statis- 
tics, in  part  as  follows :  Of  the  20,258,555  homes  in  the 
United  States,  10,697,895,  or  more  than  one-half,  are 


192  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

rented  outright;  2,931,965  are  mortgaged,  and  only 
5,984,284,  or  29  per  cent.,  are  owned  free  from  mortgage. 
...  In  fifty  cities  with  a  population  of  100,000  or  more, 
there  are  4,424,326  homes ;  74  per  cent,  of  them  are  rented 
outright.  This  is  to  say  that  3,196,941  of  these  homes 
are  rented;  574,723,  or  12.8  per  cent.,  are  mortgaged; 
and  only  13  per  cent,  are  owned  free  of  encumbrance.  .  .  .  I 
There  is  hardly  a  State  that  does  not  show  an  increased 
percentage,  not  only  of  rented,  but  mortgaged  farms,  if 
we  compare  1910  with  1890. 

What  are  the  causes  of  poverty  in  this  country? 
Drink ;  inability  to  get  work  at  a  living  wage ;  illness ; 
high  cost  of  living;  laziness;  crime;  desertion  of  wives; 
feeble-mindedness,  etc.  It  is  stated  that  in  1912,  the 
drink  bill  of  the  United  States  was  $2,336,662,338,  or 
more  than  ten  times  the  amount  of  our  fire  losses ;  this 
drink  cost  the  lives,  directly  and  indirectly,  of  more  than 
150,000  people.  There  were  produced  in  1912,  62,176,- 
694  barrels  of  fermented  liquors,  and  135,826,789  gallons 
of  distilled  liquors.  It  costs  us  over  $25  for  every  indi- 
vidual or  $150  for  a  family  of  six.  Drink  is  then  cer- 
tainly an  important  cause  of  poverty. 

The  United  States  Brewers'  Association  in  its  1913 
report,  quoting  Mary  E.  Garbutt  in  the  Garment  Worker, 
answers  this  statement  as  follows :  "  Now  what  are  the 
real  facts  in  the  case?  Is  intemperance  the  immediate 
cause  of  poverty  or  on  the  other  hand,  does  poverty  act 
as  a  cause  in  producing  intemperance?  .  .  .  Two  things 
are  absolutely  essential  for  the  working  man  to  have  the 
necessaries  of  life.  First,  work  to  do,  and  second,  large 
enough  wages  to  meet  the  needs  of  himself  and  family. 


POVERTY  AND  CHARITY  193 

If  he  is  only  employed  a  part  of  the  time  and  his  wages 
are  low,  poverty  must  as  a  matter  of  fact  follow  whether 
he  drinks  or  not.  In  the  year  1903,  Carrol  D.  Wright 
gave  the  percentage  of  those  unemployed  during  some 
portion  of  the  year  as  49.8  per  cent.  He  says  drunken- 
ness caused  only  .26  per  cent,  of  the  idleness.  .  .  .  Less 
than  3  per  cent,  of  the  appalling  total  of  idleness  which 
exists  in  this  country  can  be  charged  to  the  working  class. 
If  the  saloons  were  closed  and  the  people  were  all  ab- 
stainers, the  pall  of  poverty  would  still  hang  over  the 
home  of  the  working  man,  because  of  his  enforced  idleness 
at  times  and  the  poor  wages  paid  for  his  labor.  .  .  . 
Frances  E.  Willard  said:  "Under  the  searchlight  of 
knowledge  in  these  later  days  it  is  folly  for  us  longer  to 
ignore  the  mighty  power  of  poverty  to  induce  evil  habits 
of  every  kind.  .  .  .  The  only  way  to  have  sober  people 
is  for  us  to  strike  at  the  root  of  evil  which  causes  inebriety. 
Poverty,  many  hours  of  labor,  the  nerve-strain  under 
which  men  toil,  the  anxiety  from  the  insecurity  of  their 
jobs;  remove  all  these,  and  in  a  short  time  the  demand 
for  a  stimulant  would  cease  and  drunkenness  would  be 
unknown." 

This  argument  might  be  very  satisfactory,  did  we  not 
know  that  the  drink  habit  and  drunkenness  are  seen  in  the 
rich  man  as  well  as  in  those  in  poverty.  The  big  club, 
the  large  hotels,  cafes,  etc.,  are  patronized  by  the  well- 
to-do  class  of  persons,  both  men  and  women. 

Some  of  these  surely  fall  to  the  poverty  line  in  time. 
It  was  formerly  stated  that  the  life  of  shame  was  followed 
only  by  those  too  poor  to  live  decently.  Recent  investi- 
gations have  shown  that  this  is  not  true.  These  women 


194  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

come    from    every   walk    of   life;    feeble-mindedness    is    a 
greater  cause  than  poverty. 

The  principal  cause  of  poverty  is  the  inability  of  the 
working  man  to  obtain  a  living  wage  all  the  time.  When 
business  is  good,  mills  all  running,  railroads  all  active, 
most  men  are  employed,  but  when  panic  comes  and  money 
market  is  bad,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  families  are  in 
want;  bread  lines  are  formed  and  charity  organizations 
are  overtaxed.  Our  economists  and  sociologists  must 
solve  the  problem  of  how  to  give  employment  to  the  great- 
est number  of  men  the  greatest  amount  of  time,  and  how 
the  earnings  may  be  divided  so  that  there  will  be  enough 
for  all  in  the  occasional  idle  hour. 

I  do  not  believe  that  laziness  is  directly  a  very  great 
cause  of  poverty,  aside  from  its  association  with  alcohol- 
ism and  crime.     The  lazy  man  is  the  product  of  his  sur- 
roundings  and   can   be   eliminated   if   proper  means    are 
applied.     The  New  York  Legislative  committee  to  inves- 
tigate crime,  recently  stated  that  80  per  cent,  of  crimes 
against  property  and  the  person,  were  by  individuals  who  I 
have  either  lost  their  connection  with  home  life  or  never  0 
had  home  influences. 

Idleness  and  injuries  cause  much  poverty.     Tubercu- 
losis, insanity,  feeble-mindedness  and  syphilis  are  the  dis-y^ 
eases    responsible    for    most    of    this    inability    to    work.   \ 
"  Hunter  states  that  in  the  seventeen  years  ending  1902, 
there  were  103,320  persons  killed  and  587,028  injured  by 
our    railroads.     The    Interstate    Commerce    Commission 
gives  73,000  injured  or  killed  by  the  railways  in  1902." 
— Ralph  Waldo  Trme. 

Many  students  of  this  question  say  that  there  are  too 


\ 


POVERTY  AND  CHARILY  19S 

many  laboring  persons  coming  to  this  country,  and  that 
there  is  not  work  enough  for  all.  In  the  chapter  on 
Immigration,  that  phase  of  the  subject  was  discussed,  the 
conclusion  being  that  there  were  not  too  many  of  the 
right  kind,  but  there  were  too  many  of  the  inferior  class, 
those  who  would  not  amalgamate  with  the  social  condi- 
tions and  especially  too  many  who  would  not  go  into  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  preferring  to  remain  idle  if  they  cannot 
get  a  certain  kind  of  work  to  do. 

Where  the  great  industries  exist,  viz.,  railroad  centers, 
manufacturing  and  mining,  there  most  frequent  and  most 
serious  are  the  disturbing  labor  conditions.  In  the  agri- 
cultural districts  want  is  not  so  evident.  Nature  has 
given  man  and  animals  certain  instincts  for  preservation 
from  want.  The  bees  and  the  squirrel  teach  man  how  to 
lay  food  aside.  Primitive  man  knew  how  to  prepare  for 
the  long  dreary  days  when  he  could  not  plant  and  hunt. 
Civilized  man  knows  still  better  how  to  keep  meat,  butter, 
eggs  and  poultry  for  months  and  years.  But  is  it  the 
business  man  who  prepares  in  the  day  of  plenty  for  the 
poor  man  in  time  of  want?  The  period  of  Israel's  famine 
and  Egypt's  plenty,  forecast  by  Joseph's  interpretation 
of  Pharaoh's  dreams  is  of  more  than  historic  interest. 

Even  to-day  there  is  enough  good  land  uncultivated  in 
this  country  with  its  many  natural  resources  that  if  prop- 
erly tilled  all  could  be  fed  and  that  quite  well,  provided 
the  population  was  properly  distributed  and  the  people 
inclined  to  do  agricultural  work.  All  over  the  United 
States  farm  help  is  scarce,  yet  charity  must  care  for 
thousands.  The  ingenuity  of  man  is  rapidly  overcoming 
the  great  disasters  to  our  crops  by  drouth,  etc.  The 


196  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

great  streams  are  being  utilized,  the  desert  is  being  re- 
claimed to  produce  food,  and  our  wizard  scientists  are 
increasing  the  size  of  our  fruits,  grains  and  vegetables 
and  even  the  thorny  cactus  can  be  made  an  edible  plant. 

Is  poverty  then  destroying  our  race,  and  do  our  chari- 
table institutions  create  a  spirit  of  fearlessness  on  the 
part  of  those  who  know  that  they  may  come  to  want? 
We  furnish  free  food  and  clothing,  we  help  to  pay  the 
rent,  we  provide  summer  outings  for  the  mothers  and 
children,  we  establish  depots  in  our  large  cities  giving 
certified  milk  and  ice  for  the  babies  (many  of  whose  moth- 
ers prefer  this  milk  for  family  use),  we  send  physicians 
to  their  sick,  care  for  and  operate  on  those  needy  in  our 
hospitals,  and  in  fact  we  are  endeavoring  to  relieve  every 
want  of  those  who  are  poor,  even  to  giving  the  dead  a 
proper  burial. 

Humanity  demands  such  mercy.  "  Though  I  speak 
with  the  tongues  of  man  and  angels  and  have  not  charity, 
I  am  become  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal." 
Enlightened  America  shows  much  disregard  for  preven- 
tion, but  a  great  willingness  for  almshouses,  hospitals, 
insane  asylums  and  penal  institutions.  Surely  we  must 
build  more  fences  about  our  precipices.  We  are  rapidly 
learning  that  it  is  more  economic  and  more  humane  to  pre- 
vent disease  than  to  alleviate  suffering  and  care  for  the 
dying.  In  the  future  many  of  our  infectious  diseases  will 
be  eliminated.  May  we  say  the  same  for  alcoholism, 
crime  and  poverty.  The  majority  of  the  public  do  not 
yet  appreciate  these  efforts  for  prevention.  Many  only 
learn  by  sad  experience.  The  story  is  still  true  of  how 
many  a  "  prodigal "  appreciates  the  "  husks  "  in  his  hun- 


POVERTY  AND  CHARITY  197 

ger,  when  he  had  cast  aside  plenty  and  a  seeming  restraint. 
It  might  be  well  said  that  dire  want  is  often  the  mother 
of  appreciation. 

As  stated  in  the  beginning,  charity  is  not  idealistic. 
We  desire  a  day  when  it  will  not  be  necessary,  when  want 
will  be  no  more.  Some  fear  that  should  such  a  happy 
state  of  affairs  come  to  pass  that  many  of  our  better 
attributes  would  not  be  developed ;  no  poor  to  feed,  none 
of  their  sick  to  care  for,  a  day  when  charity  organizations 
would  be  no  more.  But  as  that  ideal  is  in  the  dark,  dim, 
distant  future,  we  must  continue  to  develop  the  better 
spirit  and  care  for  those  who  may  be  in  need.  While 
doing  this,  let  us  apply  eugenic  principles  and  by  proper 
methods  of  prevention  we  can  markedly  diminish  those  in 
want,  thereby  making  a  better  and  happier  state  of  society. 

Many  of  our  philosophers  have  taught  that  virtue  and 
ultimate  happiness  are  only  possible  by  separating  one's 
self  from  worldly  pleasures  and  selfish  desires.  Many 
have  sought  a  state  of  poverty  to  attain  this  virtue.  Did 
we  accept  this  line  of  reasoning,  many  changes  must  need 
occur.  But  since  even  philosophers  cannot  agree,  so  poor 
man  knows  not  what  is  best  for  himself  at  all  times.  We 
must  agree  that  a  condition  of  want  in  many  a  family  has 
produced  great  men,  and  the  name  of  a  rich  man  never 
lives  in  history  on  account  of  his  money.  Each  year 
competition  becomes  greater,  there  are  less  chances  for 
the  poor  boy,  education,  practical  of  course,  is  necessary 
and  the  battle  of  life  becomes  more  strenuous. 

Even  in  the  day  of  great  achievements,  of  speed,  luxury 
and  pleasure,  it  must  be  conceded  by  all  thinking  persons 
that  the  greatest  heritage  any  boy  and  girl  can  possess 


198  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

is  a  good  Christian  home  training.  This  is  possible  with 
the  poor  even  where  there  is  great  want.  These  good 
homes  are  the  ones  we  must  provide  and  protect.  It  may 
even  be  necessary  to  say  that  "  The  curfew  must  ring  each 
night,"  not  only  for  the  boys  and  the  girls,  but  for  the 
fathers  and  mothers  as  well. 

In  conclusion,  we  must  all  grant  that  private  charity 
organizations  must  assume  much  of  the  responsibility  of 
caring  for  those  in  want,  until  our  municipal  governments 
realize  the  importance  of  this  question.  We  shall  arrive 
at  no  solution  of  dispensing  charity  until  more  equal 
methods  of  taxation  are  in  force.  The  common  man  al- 
ways pays  more  than  his  share.  Individual  acts  of  kind- 
ness and  relief  will  always  be  the  one  great  method  of 
developing  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love.  Giving  to  street 
beggars,  especially  to  children,  is  a  very  dangerous  form 
of  charity  ;  it  develops  criminals.  The  true  philanthropist 
is  not  the  man  who  gives  vast  sums  to  relieve  conditions 
for  which  he  is  largely  responsible.  "  The  man  who  has 
no  sense  of  service  to  his  fellow-man,  whose  idea  is  prima- 
rily gain  for  himself,  whether  honorable  or  dishonorable, 
is  the  supreme  fool  in  life  by  virtue  of  his  ignorance  lead- 
ing him  into  the  violation  of  a  law  that  condemns  him  to 
a  pinched,  a  stunted,  seemless,  joyless  life." — Ralph 
Waldo  Trme. 


WAR  AND  FUTURE  GENERATIONS 

DR.  DAVID  STARR  JORDAN,  in  discussing  the 
decline    of   Rome,    says :     "  Does    history    repeat 
itself?     It  always  does  if  it  is  true  history.     If  it 
does  not  we  are  not  dealing  with  history,  but  with  a  mere 
succession  of  incidents.     Like  causes  produce  like  effects, 
just  as  often  as  man  may  choose  to  test  them.     When- 
ever man  uses  a  nation  for  the  test,  poor  seed  yields  a  poor 
fruitage.     Where  the  weakling  and   the  coward   survive 
in  human  history,  there  '  the  human  harvest  is  bad.'  .  .  . 
And  it  can  never  be  otherwise." 

Dr.  Jordan  believes  that  the  fall  of  Rome  was  due  to 
breeding  from  inferior  stock  as  the  good  stock  was  thinned. 
And  just  as  Rome  fell,  so  have  other  nations  of  the  past. 
This  is  called  the  reversal  of  the  laws  of  eugenics.  Gib- 
bon says :  "  After  a  diligent  inquiry,  I  can  discern  four 
principal  causes  of  the  ruin  of  Rome,  which  continued  to 
operate  in  a  period  of  more  than  a  thousand  years.  (1) 
The  injuries  of  time  and  nature.  (£)  The  hostile  attacks 
of  the  Barbarians  and  Christians.  (3)  The  use  and  the 
abuse  of  the  materials.  (4)  The  domestic  quarrels  of  the 
Romans." 

Writing  of  the  causes  which  destroyed  Rome,  Baron 
de  Montesquieu  says :  "  In  a  despotic  state,  indeed, 
which  is  immoderately  exerted,  a  real  division  is  per- 
petually kindled.  ...  It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the 

Roman  laws  were  too  weak  to  govern  the  republic.  .  .  . 

199 


200  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

She  lost  her  liberty  because  she  completed  her  work  too 
soon." 

Dr.  Jordan,  in  the  "  Eugenics  of  War,"  says :  "  Eng- 
land has  made  this  a  British  world.  Her  young  men  have 
gone  to  all  regions  where  free  men  can  live.  She  has 
carried  the  British  peace  to  all  barbarous  lands,  and  she 
has  made  it  possible  for  civilized  men  to  trade  and  pray 
with  savages.  .  .  .  What  has  all  this  cost?  It  could  not 
be  done  unless  it  was  paid  for,  and  we  must  not  wonder  if 
such  strenuous  effort,  such  sacrifice  of  life  and  force,  has 
left  her  with  something  like  exhaustion." 

With  this  consideration  of  the  fall  of  nations,  can  we 
seriously  contemplate  that  the  United  States  may  ever  be 
drawn  into  such  a  war  as  Dr.  Jordan  would  believe  must 
surely  result  in  the  disintegration  of  this  powerful  na- 
tion? Such  a  result  depending  on  the  loss  of  good  stock, 
the  inferior  men  remaining  at  home  to  replenish  the  race. 

Is  war  ordained  of  God  to  promote  justice,  to  increase 
all  that  is  noble  in  man,  making  for  better  succeeding  gen- 
erations, or  does  the  reverse  naturally  follow  by  the  slaugh- 
ter of  thousands  of  hardy  men?  Is  it  true  that  this 
country  would  have  prospered  more  surely  and  be  more 
stable  had  our  wars  not  have  occurred? 

History  records  little  else  than  the  struggle  of  nations, 
the  rise  of  this  and  the  fall  of  that  empire.  The  few 
other  pages  of  history  deal  with  the  character,  habits  and 
tastes  of  these  nations  during  their  years  of  peace  when 
they  were  preparing  for  the  next  conflict.  Man  has  in- 
herited the  natural  instinct  of  animals  for  self-preserva- 
tion. To  accomplish  this,  prey  is  made  by  the  animal 
upon  its  weaker  adversaries.  It  is  the  natural  survival 


WAR  AND  FUTURE  GENERATIONS       201 

of  the  fittest. 

From  the  earliest  history  of  man  war  has  been  waged, 
chiefly  for  three  reasons:  (1)  Conquest,  for  personal  or 
national  aggrandizement;  (2)  for  the  sake  of  religion; 
(3)  for  the  love  of  woman.  To-day  we  may  add  three 
others:  (a)  Protection  of  investments  in  a  foreign  coun- 
try; (b)  protection  of  a  persecuted  people  as  in  the  case 
of  Cuba;  and  (c)  for  commercial  supremacy. 

Study  our  most  justifiable  war  of  the  Revolution  and 
with  this  the  opinion  of  two  Indian  chiefs.  William  Pitt, 
speaking  in  the  House  of  Commons,  June,  1781,  said: 
"  Gentlemen  have  passed  the  highest  eulogiums  on  the 
American  War.  Its  justice  has  been  defended  in  the  most 
fervent  manner.  A  noble  lord  in  the  heat  of  his  zeal,  has 
called  it  a  holy  war.  For  my  part,  although  the  honor- 
able gentleman  who  made  this  motion,  and  some  other 
gentlemen,  have  been,  more  than  once,  in  the  course  of  the 
debate,  severely  reprehended  for  calling  it  a  wicked  and 
accursed  war,  I  am  persuaded,  and  would  affirm,  that  it 
was  a  most  accursed,  wicked,  barbarous,  cruel,  unnatural 
and  diabolical  war !  " 

Horace  Walpole,  a  member  of  the  British  Parliament, 
said  in  1775 :  "  However,  we  are  determined  to  know  the 
worst,  and  are  sending  all  the  men  and  ammunition  we 
can  muster.  The  Congress,  not  asleep  neither,  have  ap- 
pointed a  generalissimo,  Washington,  allowed  a  very  able 
officer,  who  distinguished  himself  in  the  last  war.  Well, 
we  had  better  gone  on  robbing  the  Indies !  It  was  a  more 
lucrative  trade."  Sir  Horace  had  a  very  excellent  premo- 
nition of  coming  disasters  to  the  British  army.  We  all 
agree  that  the  colonies  were  engaged  in  a  righteous  war. 


202  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Many  of  our  most  able  men  were  killed ;  still  the  country 
prospered  in  a  short  time  as  never  before  or  since.  Most 
eugenists  will  say,  and  that  rightly,  too,  that  the  pros- 
perity was  possible  and  natural,  as  vast  multitudes  of 
sturdy  immigrants  flocked  to  this  land  of  liberty  and 
plenty. 

Nevertheless,  we  had  our  internal  dissensions  with  the 
first  owners  of  the  soil.  By  treaty,  purchase  (?)  and 
power,  we  have  finally  subdued  the  aborigines.  As  to  the 
land  of  religious  liberty  the  opinion  of  Red  Jacket  on 
"  The  Religion  of  the  White  Man  and  the  Red  "  is  quite 
interesting.  "  Brother,  you  say  that  there  is  but  one 
way  to  worship  and  serve  the  Great  Spirit.  If  there  is 
but  one  religion,  why  do  your  white  people  differ  so  much 
about  it?  .  .  .  Brother,  we  do  not  wish  to  destroy  your 
religion  or  take  it  from  you.  We  only  want  to  enjoy  our 
own."  The  great  chieftain,  Black  Hawk,  said  after  his 
defeat :  "  That  was  the  last  sun  that  shone  on  Black 
Hawk.  His  heart  is  dead,  and  no  longer  beats  quick  in 
his  bosom.  He  is  now  a  prisoner  of  the  white  men ;  they 
will  do  with  him  as  they  wish.  But  he  can  stand  torture, 
and  is  not  afraid  of  death.  He  is  no  coward.  Black 
Hawk  is  an  Indian.  He  has  done  nothing  for  which  an 
Indian  ought  to  be  ashamed.  He  has  fought  for  his  coun- 
trymen, against  white  men,  who  came,  year  after  year,  to 
cheat  them  and  take  away  their  lands." 

Does  any  American  to-day  dare  say  that  Black  Hawk 
was  not  filled  with  the  same  patriotic  spirit  the  colonists 
showed  in  the  war  against  England?  Was  it  not  a  more 
righteous  spirit  than  many  of  us  display  in  our  efforts 
to  conquer  foreign  countries  simply  to  protect  invested 


WAR  AND  FUTURE  GENERATIONS 

interests  of  our  great  capitalists?  There  is  over  one  bil- 
lion of  United  States  capital  in  Mexico ;  Mexico  has  about 
two-thirds  as  much,  and  England  one-third  as  much  in- 
vested in  these  enterprises.  To  protect  these  the  lives  of 
thousands  of  the  common  able-bodied  soldiers  may  be  lost, 
while  the  interested  ones  remain  at  home  enjoying  them- 
selves and  proclaiming  that  we  should  always  be  patriotic. 
The  words  of  William  Penn  and  Horace  Walpole  might 
well  be  studied  to-day. 

Is  war  of  value  to  a  nation?  Do  we  develop  the  spirit 
of  manhood  and  are  the  shades  of  the  fallen  brave  a 
stimulus  to  each  succeeding  generation?  It  is  not  true 
that  it  is  only  the  most  sturdy  who  can  shoulder  the  gun 
and  withstand  the  fatigue  of  the  long  march.  In  any 
great  war  like  our  Civil  War,  regiments  were  filled  from 
every  walk  of  life,  the  laborer  and  the  clerk,  the  artisan 
and  the  professional  man  marched  and  fell,  side  by  side. 
It  was  not  a  war  of  sinew  alone,  it  was  right  and  patriot- 
ism, seen  in  both  the  Northern  and  Southern  armies.  Few 
men  to-day  would  be  willing  to  erase  that  awful  struggle 
from  the  pages  of  history,  but  a  much  less  number  would 
desire  another  such  conflict. 

The  great  nations  of  the  world  are  spending  from  £5 
per  cent,  to  more  than  50  per  cent,  of  their  national  ex- 
penditures on  their  armies  and  navies;  to  prepare  for 
war  in  times  of  peace.  To  preserve  peace,  many  say. 

Dr.  Jordan  quotes  Benjamin  Franklin  as  saying  that 
the  system  of  standing  armies  and  war  in  vogue  in  Eu- 
rope in  his  time  could  not  endure,  because  the  result  of  it 
would  be  that  the  nations  would  breed  inferior  stock,  that 
the  strong  men  would  be  destroyed,  or  kept  from  mar- 


204  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

riage,  and  those  at  home  —  those  that  war  could  not  use 
—  would  be  the  parents  of  the  next  generation.  And  so, 
he  says,  that  system  cannot  stand.  While  there  are  con- 
tinued rumors  of  great  wars  about  to  break  out  in  Europe, 
it  must  be  granted  that  the  countries  of  Europe  are  no 
nearer  decadence  on  account  of  war  than  when  Franklin 
made  the  above  statement.  If  there  has  been  any  retro- 
grade movement  in  the  last  few  decades  it  is  rather  on 
account  of  race  suicide,  labor  conditions  and  religious 
feelings  than  that  of  war. 

Much  as  we  deprecate  war  for  any  reason,  we  must 
grant  that  it  does  develop  courage  and  a  spirit  of  national 
patriotism.  The  percentage  of  the  entire  number  killed 
in  battle  is  very  small  compared  to  the  deaths  to-day  from 
disease,  alcoholism,  and  the  number  of  defectives  which, 
are  being  thrust  upon  us.  More  persons  die  annually  in 
the  United  States  than  were  killed  in  the  Civil  War. 

The  report  of  the  Coroner  of  Allegheny  County,  Penn- 
sylvania for  1914,  shows  that  there  were  2,914  deaths  in- 
vestigated. Of  these  we  find  that  there  were  the  following  : 


Burns  and  scalds    .  .  .  .  ........................ 

Mines  and  mills  ..........................  ....  156 

Murder    .....................................  56 

Drowning   ...................................  91 

Railroads    ...........................  .........  178 

Automobile   ..................................  50 

Falls   ____  ...................................  153 

Street  railways    ..............................  51 

Accidental  poisoning  and  shooting  ...............  43 

Asphyxiated   .................................  £4 


WAR  AND  FUTURE  GENERATIONS       205 

The  sons  of  great  men  are  rarely  great  and  all  great 
men  have  not  descended  from  the  sturdy  class.  War  can- 
not develop  this  noble  spirit  of  patriotism  to  be  emulated 
by  our  sons  and  grandsons  unless  it  be  a  just  cause.  Jus- 
tice is  often  hard  to  determine  since  Scripture  is  full  of 
wars  of  conquest.  England,  France,  Scotland,  and  Spain 
have  killed  their  hundreds  of  thousands  simply  because  of 
religious  feelings.  In  1806,  John  Randolph,  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  spoke  against  another  war  with  Eng- 
land. He  said :  "  But  the  gentleman  has  told  you  we 
ought  to  go  to  war,  if  for  nothing  else,  for  the  fur  trade. 
Now,  sir,  the  people  on  whose  support  he  seems  to  calcu- 
late, follow,  let  me  tell  him,  a  better  business ;  and  let  me 
add  that  while  men  are  happy  at  home  reaping  their  own 
fields,  the  fruits  of  their  labor  and  industry,  there  is  little 
danger  of  their  being  induced  to  go  sixteen  or  seventeen 
hundred  miles  in  pursuit  of  beavers,  raccoons,  or  opossums 
—  much  less  of  going  to  war  for  the  privilege.  They  are 
better  employed  where  they  are."  We  had  the  war  a  few 
years  later  and  men  do  go  far  away  to  obtain  these  furs 
for  milady's  vanity. 

Speaking  of  religious  wars,  the  words  of  Meagher  on 
"Abhorring  the  Sword  in  Dublin,"  1846,  are  strong: 
"  Then,  my  lord,  I  do  not  condemn  the  use  of  arms  as 
immoral,  nor  do  I  conceive  it  profane  to  say  that  the 
King  of  Heaven  —  the  Lord  of  Hosts !  the  God  of  Battles ! 
bestows  His  benedictions  upon  those  who  unsheath  the 
sword  in  the  hour  of  a  nation's  peril."  He  was  not  al- 
lowed to  finish  that  speech  and  was  compelled  to  flee  to 
America. 

We  cannot  but  admire  Patrick  Henry  for  his  words  in 


206  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

1775 :  "  There  is  no  retreat  but  in  submission  and 
slavery  !  Our  chains  are  forged !  Their  clanking  may  be 
heard  on  the  plains  of  Boston !  The  war  is  inevitable  and 
let  it  come !  I  repeat  it,  sir,  let  it  come !  "  Still  to-day 
we  see  no  cause  for  such  a  patriotic  speech.  Blessed  are 
the  peacemakers.  The  murderer  may  kill  in  self-defense 
and  our  statesmen  claim  that  war  is  for  the  purpose  of 
the  preservation  of  our  nation.  Every  man  should  be  a 
fighter ;  a  fighter  against  oppression  of  every  kind.  Every 
true  American  has  courage,  courage  to  enter  the  thickest 
of  the  battle,  and  will  give  his  life  without  a  word.  But 
how  many  have  the  real  courage  of  life  to  protect  suffer- 
ing man  and  woman?  The  hero  rescues  a  drowning  per- 
son and  receives  a  "  hero  medal."  A  dog  will  rescue  his 
master  oft-times.  How  many  have  the  courage  to  do  the 
real  things  of  life? 

I  cannot  conclude  better  than  to  quote  from  an  article 
by  the  late  Prof.  William  James  on  "  The  Moral  Equiva- 
lent of  War,"  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  77 :  "  The 
military  patriotic  and  romantic  minded  everywhere,  and 
especially  the  professional  military  class  refuse  to  admit 
for  a  moment  that  war  may  be  a  transitory  phenomenon 
in  social  evolution.  The  notion  of  a  sheep's  paradise  like 
that  revolts,  they  say,  our  higher  imagination.  Where 
then  would  be  the  steeps  of  life?  If  war  had  ever  stopped, 
we  should  have  to  reinvent  it,  on  this  view,  to  redeem  life 
from  flat  degeneration.  .  .  .  Militarism  is  the  great  pre- 
server of  our  ideals  of  hardihood,  and  human  life  with 
no  use  for  hardihood  would  be  contemptible.  .  .  .  War  is 
in  short,  a  permanent  human  obligation.  .  .  .  No  victory, 
says  S.  R.  Steinmetz,  is  possible  save  in  the  resultant  of 


WAR  AND  FUTURE  GENERATIONS       207 

virtue,  no  defeat  for  which  some  vice  or  weakness  is  not 
responsible."  War  may  have  been  an  agenic  factor  in 
the  time  of  Rome,  but  I  cannot  believe  it  is  in  this  coun- 
try to-day.  War  is  becoming  more  impossible  each  year 
and  the  patriotic  spirit  must  be  developed  in  more  righteous 
ways.  Pleasure  and  pain  may  be  relative  experiences,  but 
we  must  place  a  new  interpretation  on  the  saying :  "  We 
can  only  get  to  heaven  through  hell." 

The  above  article  was  written  and  published  in  March, 
1914,  since  which  time  we  are  witnessing  a  war  the  like 
of  which  the  world  has  never  seen.  From  the  standpoint 
of  the  eugenist,  we  wonder  and  try  to  determine  what 
will  be  the  effect  of  this  great  struggle  on  future  gener- 
ations. Will  the  killing  off  of  the  many  thousands  of 
strong  men  who  could  have  been  the  fathers  of  healthy 
children  be  evenly  or  more  than  balanced  by  the  better- 
ment morally  and  socially  of  those  who  survive? 

Will  this  tendency  to  a  more  religious  feeling  and  less 
socialistic  differences  be  so  manifest  that  it  will  be  said 
a  century  hence  that  this  war  was  a  good  thing?  We 
can  only  argue  and  imagine  what  must  occur  for  eugenic 
reasons.  Without  wars  to  depopulate  the  world,  some 
assert  that  many  nations  would  multiply  too  rapidly. 
Peace  increases  race  suicide. 

It  is  possible  that  the  desire  for  children  is  more  mani- 
fest in  a  nation  following  a  great  war,  notwithstanding 
the  financial  losses  suffered  by  the  survivors.  War  in- 
creases marital  ties,  there  is  a  closer  bond  between  husband 
and  wife,  more  fidelity  on  the  part  of  each,  due  to  the 
long  suffering  of  the  soldier  and  the  struggle  for  existence 


208  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

of  the  wife  at  home.  The  unmarried  soldier  longs  for  a 
home  and  hastens  to  the  altar  as-  soon  as  possible. 

War  creates  a  spirit  of  charity  in  many  who  would 
otherwise  not  care  for  those  in  want.  War  diminishes  the 
amount  of  sensual  indulgences ;  pleasures  give  way  to 
diligence.  Maclay,  in  The  North  American  Review, 
September,  1914,  details  at  length  on  the  "  Horrors  of 
Peace."  He  says,  "  When  there  is  no  strife  we  are  contin- 
ually in  pain  and  sorrow,  due  to  diseases,  accidents,  race 
suicide,  divorce,  etc.,  all  of  which  (although  constantly  de- 
creasing in  proportion  to  the  population)  are  as  distress- 
ing as  war."  Race  suicide  and  divorce  are  markedly  on 
the  increase.  I  mentioned  these  calamities,  destroyers  of 
the  race  even  in  peace,  in  the  above  article.  The  effect  of 
war  and  peace  must  be  judged  by  the  moral  effect  upon 
the  nations  concerned.  Even  from  an  eugenic  standpoint 
a  righteous  weakling  is  yet  superior  to  an  immoral  giant 
and  will  in  the  long  run  produce  better  children. 

Just  so  long  as  our  false  idea  of  national  patriotism 
compels  two  neighbors  who  are  the  best  of  friends,  but  who 
happen  to  live  on  opposite  sides  of  a  boundary  line,  to 
take  up  arms  against  each  other,  because  they  must  be 
true  to  their  country,  must  we  continue  to  argue,  as  to 
the  horrors  of  war  and  the  value  of  peace.  In  the  same 
line  of  argument  must  we  consider  those  who  would  kill  a 
friend  and  brother  because  their  birth  was  solemnized  in 
one  church  while  that  of  his  brother  was  written  in  a 
sanctuary  which  had  a  different  belief  in  some  detail  of  a 
God  whom  they  each  believed  listened  to  their  supplica- 
tions and  would  make  them  victors  in  the  end.  Victories 
they  may  be,  but  not  such  as  they  believed. 


TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE 

SOME  one  has  facetiously  said  that  it  is  now,  "  Sex 
o'clock."     Before  beginning  a  serious  consideration 
of  this  maligned  subject,  it  is  advisable  that  the  hon- 
est student  read  carefully  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  Leviti- 
cus.    After  a  careful  study  of  the  Jewish  laws,  we  are  in 
a  better  position  to  ask  the  question :     "  Are  we  as  thor- 
ough in  teaching  sex  matters  and  administering  laws  deal- 
ing with  social  ills  as  were  our  ancestors  many  centuries 
ago?" 

We  all  do  agree  that  every  intelligent  man  and  woman 
desires  a  state  of  sexual  purity  in  his  own  household;  but 
the  idea  is  common  to  many  that  sex  sin  is  necessary  and 
should  exist.  We  can  quite  agree  concerning  animal  na- 
ture unrestrained,  but  cannot  consent  to  the  necessity  as 
a  part  of  the  natural  physiological  functions  of  the  human 
body. 

Man  is  an  animal  normally  endowed  with  more  or  less 
of  the  "  sex  pull."  A  proper  restraint  of  this  nature  de- 
pends upon  a  healthy  body  and  a  sufficient  degree  of  intel- 
ligence. The  various  structures  of  the  human  organism 
are  capable  of  reaction  to  many  stimuli,  internal  and  ex- 
ternal to  that  organism.  An  abnormal  condition  of  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  body  permits  abnormal  reactions  to 
these  stimuli  in  such  a  way  that  individuals  become  dif- 
ferent. Idealistic  psychology  provides  a  study  of  the  in- 
dividual as  well  as  the  class.  Nowhere  is  such  observa- 
tion of  greater  importance  than  in  the  sexual  associations 

209 


210  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

of  men  and  women.  The  student  of  sociology  must  recog- 
nize these  variations  in  his  endeavor  to  provide  solutions 
for  our  social  ills. 

In  the  attempt  to  establish  a  condition  of  universal 
social  purity,  many  enthusiasts  have  a  panacea  in  "  sex 
hygiene."  If  our  girls  and  boys  can  only  be  taught  to 
know  themselves,  biologically,  physiologically  and  sex- 
ually, then  the  problem  is  solved ;  vice  and  immorality  will 
diminish.  These  persons  mean  well  and  possibly  even  the 
teaching  of  the  most  radical  might  do  no  harm,  but  this 
treatment  is  no  "  cure-all."  Many  of  these  sex  instruc- 
tors should  be  given  a  lesson  or  many  lessons  in  practical 
physiology  and  sociology.  They  are  not  beginning  at 
the  bottom  of  practical  eugenics.  We  can  temporarily 
subdue  a  wild  beast  by  an  iron  cage  and  the  trainer's  club, 
but  its  nature  changes  but  little.  Reason  and  a  healthy 
body  are  necessary  for  man  to  subdue  himself. 

Education  is  an  essential  thing,  but  a  simple  knowledge 
of  abstract  things  is  frequently  of  little  value.  The  thief 
knows  he  may  be  imprisoned,  the  murderer  knows  he  may 
be  executed,  the  young  man  sowing  his  wild  oats  knows  he 
may  reap  tares,  but  the  knowledge  of  the  penalties  does 
not  lessen  crime.  In  the  last  report  of  the  Allegheny 
County  Workhouse,  we  learn  that  from  1869  to  1912 
there  were  committed  to  that  institution  152,432  persons. 
Of  this  number  71,704*  were  committed  two  or  more  terms ; 
451  ten  times;  361  twenty  times;  112  thirty  times;  54 
forty  times ;  and  357  fifty  or  more  times. 

There  were  3,994  convictions  in  the  women's  court,  New 
York,  in  two  years  ending  August  31,  1912.  In  this  short 
time,  1,740  were  repeaters;  164  were  convicted  five  times; 


TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE 

57  seven  times ;  7  ten  times ;  and  2  twelve  times.  Surely 
the  besetting  sins  of  these  unfortunate  persons  were  too 
strong  for  their  power  of  resistance.  An  early  knowledge 
of  sex  matters  might  have  prevented  a  few  of  these  women 
from  living  a  life  frequently  leading  to  the  prison  cell. 
A  good  home  would  have  saved  most  of  them  from  this 
sad  fate. 

Dr.  M.  J.  Exner,  secretary  student  department  of  the 
International  Committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  recently  sent  a  questionnaire  of  thirteen  ques- 
tions relative  to  sex  education  to  the  secretaries  of  the 
college  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  throughout 
the  country.  Sixty-three  replies  were  received  from 
prominent  colleges  and  universities  located  in  all  sections 
of  the  United  States.  The  replies  show  that  every  one  of 
the  sixty-three  institutions  make  some  provision  for  edu- 
cating students  in  the  matter  of  sex. 

The  reports  indicate  that  there  is  a  decrease  in  venereal 
disease  in  these  institutions  (in  one  college,  instead  of 
125  cases  of  venereal  disease  after  a  single  football  game, 
15  is  now  a  fair  estimate)  ;  the  attitude  of  coarseness  and 
vulgarity  toward  the  subject  of  sex  has  given  place  to  one 
of  serious  respect;  and  the  whole  moral  tone  has  been 
changed.  It  would  thus  appear  that  college  football  is 
not  an  eugenic  factor;  the  physical  development  of  the 
players  is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  effect  of 
venereal  diseases  on  the  enthusiastic  cheering  sections  and 
many  women  and  children  in  later  years.  College  presi- 
dents will  please  take  note.  I  have  little  sympathy  with 
any  college  which  compels  chapel  attendance  in  the  morn- 
ings and  then  closes  its  eyes  to  the  evils  attending  contests 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

and  social  events  followed  by  drinking  and  debauchery. 
We  have  shown  that  "  wild  oats  "  are  not  necessary  'for 
men,  and  in  like  manner  the  college  boys  are  not  obliged 
to  commit  overt  acts  which  can  only  be  a  hindrance  to 
race  development. 

This  is  a  serious  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  writer  to 
show  why  public  sentiment  is  opposed,  as  it  is  clearly  dem- 
onstrated in  the  press,  against  the  teaching  of  sex  hygiene 
in  our  schools.  There  is  no  hope  of  success  in  sex  instruc- 
tion to  our  school  children  as  long  as  the  parents  them- 
selves do  not  maintain  a  higher  standard,  knowing  sex 
matters  as  they  do.  In  the  same  spirit  of  relaxation  and 
celebration,  the  more  august  fathers  who  convene  as  dele- 
gates to  a  political,  fraternal  or  business  convention  occa- 
sionally see  the  sights  when  away  from  home.  Would  it 
be  thought  the  teaching  of  sex  matters  to  these  delegates 
on  the  way  to  the  convention  would  produce  a  state  of 
subjugation?  Or  does  it  clearly  prove  there  are  many 
factors  besides  simple  knowledge  which  must  be  reckoned 
with? 

Let  us  hope  that  none  of  our  intelligent  fathers  wish  to 
prevent  their  wives  and  children  from  learning  important 
truths ;  from  knowing  that  sexual  sins  are  punished  by 
awful  penalties.  Every  boy  and  girl  should  know  the 
mysteries  of  life  as  far  as  the  father  and  mother  can  teach 
it.  It  is  true  that  many  a  child  is  born  in  the  maternity 
hospital,  with  the  stigma  of  "  no  father  "  branded  upon 
its  forehead  for  life,  simply  because  the  mother  did  not 
tell  the  innocent  girl  a  few  simple  facts  of  reproduction. 

If  the  parents  neglect  to  instruct  their  children  con- 
cerning these  most  important  things,  should  the  school 


TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE 

undertake  this  task?  The  agitation  on  the  question  is 
becoming  very  warm.  At  the  last  meeting  of  the  World's 
Purity  Congress,  a  resolution  was  passed  urging  the  intro- 
duction of  safe  and  sane  sex  education  directly  into  nor- 
mal and  high  schools,  and  indirectly  into  secondary 
schools.  It  urged  that  teachers  be  prepared  to  avail 
themselves  for  giving  this  instruction,  and  that  it  be  given 
a  place  in  teachers'  institutions  and  conventions.  It  also 
urged  parents  to  avail  themselves  of  opportunities  offered 
through  the  church,  school  and  other  organized  forces  in 
preparing  themselves  to  properly  instruct  their  children 
in  sex  matters. 

B.  S.  Steadwell,  president  of  the  above  congress,  says : 
"  In  all  movements  that  spell  progress  there  are  certain 
questions  or  principles  that  are  absolutely  fixed  and  that 
must  be  steadfastly  adhered  to  or  the  cause  itself  must 
fail  and  go  to  pieces.  This  is  signally  true  to-day  of  the 
movement  that  demands  the  instruction  of  children  in  the 
purposes,  problems  and  perils  of  sex.  Our  policy  of 
silence  on  these  matters  throughout  all  the  past  has 
wrought  disaster  and  cannot  be  honestly  reviewed  with 
satisfaction.  Therefore  we  believe  that  every  child  has  a 
right  to  know  all  there  is  to  be  known,  that  can  serve  him, 
as  to  himself,  and  especially  as  pertains  to  his  physical 
body,  and  that  this  knowledge  ought  to  be  imparted  to 
him  in  a  form  adapted  to  his  age  and  powers.  Now  what 
is  to  be  done  with  debatable  questions?  The  only  earthly 
thing  is  to  debate  them.  Therefore  let  us  be  glad  for  the 
present  discussions  on  the  hygiene.  It  is  the  best  thing 
that  can  happen.  Opposition  never  killed  a  righteous 
cause.  Apathy,  lethargy,  inanition  mean  death  to  any 


214  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

movement.55 

The  objections  to  teaching  sex  hygiene  in  the  school 
are:  (1)  Public  opinion;  (£)  few  teachers  are  capable  of 
giving  instructions  in  matters  of  sex;  (3)  absence  of 
tested  courses  of  study;  (4)  to  be  effective  must  include 
the  elementary  schools,  which  are  considered  dangerous 
for  this  instruction;  (5)  danger  of  awakening  an  interest 
in  sex  matters  at  a  too  early  age;  (6)  knowledge  would 
rob  the  children  of  that  sweet  ignorance  of  the  terrible 
evils  of  life.  The  editor  of  Vigilance,  the  organ  of  the 
American  Social  Hygiene  Association,  says :  "  Sex  edu- 
cation cannot  be  comprehensively  treated  without  a  con- 
sideration of  sex  morals,  nor  is  the  welfare  against  com- 
mercialized vice  adequate  without  consideration  of  sex 
education.  Our  problem  is  in  its  essential  elements  a  scien- 
tific one.  On  one  side  it  enters  the  domains  of  physiology, 
psychology  and  pathology;  on  the  other  those  of  soci- 
ology, criminology  and  of  political  science."  In  looking 
over  141  clippings  for  one  month,  this  editor  found  the 
majority  in  favor  of  sex  instruction  in  the  home  and  op- 
posed to  it  in  the  schools.  Some  of  these  opinions  on  this 
subject  are  quite  interesting  and  relevant  to  a  solution. 

Prof.  Thomas  H.  Balliet  says :  "  No  one  questions  the 
possibility  of  doing  a  vast  deal  of  good  by  enlightening 
fathers  and  mothers  on  this  vital  subject.  Public  senti- 
ment is  ripe  everywhere  for  this  step  and  competent  per- 
sons can  be  found  usually  among  the  medical  profession." 
The  Philadelphia  Ledger,  September  7,  1913,  protests 
against  that  alarming  fad  now  possessing  some  advanced 
educators  —  the  dangerous  fad  of  giving  to  little  children 
in  the  schools  the  sort  of  instruction  that  is  tantamount  to 


TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE  215 

a  mud  bath.  It  says :  "  The  country  is  obsessed  by  an 
unholy  wage  for  vice  investigation  and  vice  exploitation. 
It  has  threatened  to  debauch  the  stage,  but  wise  men  and 
women,  whose  strong  sense  is  above  the  superficial  specu- 
lations of  amateur  sociologists,  will  oppose  the  attempt  to 
institute  vice  teaching  in  the  public  schools." 

The  fear  of  sex  knowledge  is  seen  in  Collier's,  October 
18,  1913:  "  The  psychologists  are  welcome  to  their  end- 
less wrangles  as  to  the  precise  extent  to  which  sex  discus- 
sion arouses.  .  .  .  Any  system  of  instruction  which  gives 
a  knowledge  of  sex  hygiene  merely  as  mechanical  knowl- 
edge will  be  a  gigantic  mistake."  Monsignor  John  A. 
Shepard  writes  in  the  Journal  of  Jersey  City,  October  6, 
1913 :  "  Just  at  present  our  ears  are  dinned  with  a  fad 
of  sex  hygiene.  Its  introduction  into  the  schools  is  dis- 
cussed throughout  the  country.  If  ever  there  was  a  sys- 
tem diabolically  devised  to  injure  our  youth,  and  to  make 
them  voluptuaries,  this  is  by  far  the  most  effective." 

The  Lowell  Sun,  September  26,  1913,  says:  "Sex 
education  in  the  schools  is  one  of  the  latest  manifesta- 
tions of  modernism  gone  mad."  The  Milwaukee  Free 
Press,  November  1,  1913,  quotes  Miss  Ida  Tarbell:  "I 
am  extremely  doubtful  as  to  the  wisdom  of  teaching  sex 
hygiene  in  the  public  schools,  much  as  I  realize  the  need 
for  sane,  clean  consideration  of  the  matter.  I  believe  it 
would  be  wiser  to  bend  all  our  energies  toward  convincing 
mothers  and  fathers  of  their  obligation  in  meeting  this 
need." 

The  Free  Press  agrees  with  Miss  Tarbell,  but  remarks, 
as  we  all  should  know :  "  There  will  always  be  a  host  of 
parents,  especially  among  the  uneducated  and  irresponsi- 


216  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

ble,  who,  no  matter  what  their  knowledge  on  the  subject, 
will  be  unable  to  convey  it  to  their  children  in  a  tactful, 
sensible,  wholesome  and  impressive  manner." 

Aye!  There  is  the  rub.  It  is  the  great  mass  of  par- 
ents who  will  never  know  or  care  to  know  how  to  instruct 
their  children  in  these  matters.  Enough  has  been  said  in 
these  articles  on  the  defectives,  on  crime,  and  on  poverty 
to  clearly  show  that  society  must  demand  conditions  which 
will  be  for  a  betterment  of  our  inferior  classes ;  those  whom 
we  burden  and  who  are  a  burden  to  us.  The  above  quota- 
tions from  the  press  are  from  Vigilance,  December,  1913, 
and  as  it  stands  for  the  highest  ideals  in  all  matters  of 
purity,  favoring  sane  teaching  of  sex  hygiene,  much  credit 
must  be  given  this  journal  for  quoting  these  adverse  opin- 
ions. It  follows  the  criticisms  with  many  quotations 
which  are  very  favorable  to  and  insistent  upon  instruction 
on  sex  hygiene  in  the  public  schools.  These  opinions  are 
too  well  known  to  be  quoted. 

The  Louisville  (Ky.)  Times,  November  7,  1913,  says: 
"  The  social  hygiene  exhibit  of  the  Kentucky  School  of 
Social  Hygiene  was  opened  to-day,  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
building.  The  purpose  of  the  exhibit  is  to  educate  in 
the  methods  of  prevention  of  sexual  disease  and  vices,  and 
through  instruction  in  sex  hygiene  to  improve  society  and 
protect  future  generations." 

Ella  Flagg  Young,  many  years  superintendent  of  the 
Chicago  schools,  recently  stated:  "  Parental  objection  to 
the  teaching  of  sex  hygiene  in  Chicago  schools  has  prac- 
tically disappeared,  since  the  parents  learned  the  exact 
nature  of  the  new  course.  The  only  opposition  that  now 
exists  comes  from  outside  sources  and  from  persons  who 


TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE  217 

do  not  really  understand  what  we  are  teaching."  The 
Chicago  School  Board  has  since,  on  account  of  politics, 
by  a  vote  of  13  to  8,  taken  the  instruction  of  sex  hygiene 
out  of  the  high  school. 

Knowing  society  as  we  do,  with  thousands  of  children 
growing  up  without  proper  sex  instruction,  what  should 
we  advise?  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  the  child  must  be 
educated  by  some  one  in  these  matters,  or  he  will  acquaint 
himself  with  these  things  at  the  wrong  time  and  place.  A 
general  plan  of  morals  can  be  interwoven  with  other  les- 
sons by  any  teacher  of  ability.  This  does  not  mean  that 
she  must  teach  sex  matters,  but  this  instruction  must  de- 
velop a  moral  tone  in  a  child  so  that  it  will  seek  for  further 
instruction  at  home.  I  agree  with  the  editor  of  the 
Atlanta  Constitution:  "  Whatever  the  outcome,  and  if 
we  are  to  make  progress  to  this  use  of  education  it  is 
evident  that  the  first  party  to  be  educated  is  the  parent. 
Their  diffidence  in  approaching  the  topic,  and  clumsiness 
in  handling  it,  are  two  of  the  hurtful  objects  to  a  splendid 
conceived  movement." 

If  the  parents  are  to  teach  their  children  these  things 
we  must  teach  the  parents.  A  good  example  is  the  Buena 
Park  Parent-Teacher  Association  of  Los  Angeles;  there 
the  mothers  of  that  district  got  together,  decided  that 
for  the  sake  of  their  children  it  was  their  duty  to  study 
sex  hygiene  for  themselves.  They  purchased  books,  pro- 
vided lecturers  and  are  now  able  to  instruct  their  children. 

A  limited  course  in  these  matters  should  be  given  by 
women  physicians  in  the  high  schools  and  colleges,  and 
similar  instruction  to  boys  by  men  physicians.  Very  few 
teachers  are  capable  of  teaching  these  questions  properly. 


218  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

It  is  quite  possible  that  men's  organizations  of  the 
churches  is  the  best  place  to  instruct  the  fathers  and  young 
men.  Similar  mothers'  meetings  should  be  held  in  churches 
and  schools  for  providing  knowledge  pertaining  to  the 
girls.  Every  mother  should  instruct  her  daughter  to  look 
after  her  physical  welfare.  She  should  decide  as  to  the 
fashion  of  the  dress.  Modesty,  we  believe,  is  due  to  the 
wearing  of  clothes.  Such  being  true,  it  will  not  be  long 
until  many  women  will  have  lost  this  modesty,  for  unre- 
strained animals  and  plants  always  revert  to  former  par- 
ents, and  woman  is  fast  reverting  to  the  Garden  of  Eden. 
The  Fiji  Islanders  are  not  modest. 

Mothers  must  be  taught  what  amusements,  habits  of 
life,  and  companions  are  best  for  the  children.  They 
must  be  able  to  instruct  the  girls  as  to  the  true  wife, 
duties  of  motherhood,  and  finally  the  nature,  acquirement 
and  dangers  of  venereal  disease. 

The  Church  and  society  must  demand  that  there  be 
more  mothers  and  fathers  in  the  real  sense  of  these  words ; 
let  home  be  a  place  where  parents  and  children  love  to 
dwell,  and  if  such  can  be  accomplished  there  will  be  less 
danger  to  those  who  may  still  be  innocent  on  sexual  mat- 
ters. 

Dr.  J.  A.  Doleris,  La  Gyn,  November,  1910,  says: 
"  Sexual  education  will  lead  young  people  toward  a  higher 
goal,  show  them  early  the  true  significance  of  life,  guide 
them  to  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  human  biology,  and 
inculcate  a  logical  conception  of  the  laws  of  nature  which 
rule  our  lives.  It  is  time  to  put  an  end  to  the  ignorance, 
and  mystery  of  sexual  matters,  derived  from  religious 
dogma,  which  has  been  thrown  around  the  highest  and 


TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE  219 

most  essential  function  of  life,  reproduction.  The  austere 
morality  of  religion  has  accomplished  little.  There  is  no 
desire  to  lessen  the  dominance  of  true  love  in  marriage 
by  education,  but  to  give  a  true  appreciation  of  the  phys- 
ical and  psychical  qualities  necessary  to  produce  healthy 
and  strong  offspring;  to  substitute  this  for  an  idealized 
romantic  sentiment,  or  a  materialistic  satisfaction  of  the 
sensual  element.  We  must  break  with  a  system  of  educa- 
tion whose  worst  consequence  is  to  give  a  false  judgment 
to  children,  to  pervert  their  imagination  and  sometimes 
even  to  indicate  them  to  vice." 


MARRIAGE  AND  EUGENICS 

THERE  is  no  problem  in  eugenics  which  has  caused 
so  much  consideration  as  that  of  marriage.  It  is 
probable  that  eugenists  have  given  more  attention 
to  this  phase  of  producing  a  healthy  race  than  to  all  other 
related  subjects.  It  is  but  natural  that  such  should  be 
the  result  of  a  study  to  improve  mankind.  Since  "  like 
begets  like,"  the  attention  of  students  of  sociology  is 
directed  to  the  fact  that  good  healthy  parents  will  more 
likely  have  healthy  children  than  will  those  less  healthy. 
Then  it  must  be  concluded  that  persons  healthy  at  the 
time  of  marriage  will  more  likely  be  healthy  at  the  time 
of  procreation  than  those  who  marry,  tainted  with  syphi- 
lis, tuberculosis,  alcoholism,  mental  deficiency,  etc. 

For  these  reasons,  to-day,  on  the  one  hand  we  find  very 
free  discussion  of  healthy  persons  who  should  marry,  and 
on  the  other,  reasons  why  some  others  should  not  marry. 
Explanations  are  given  why  healthy,  intelligent  young 
men  and  women  refrain  from  entering  into  the  marriage 
relation,  until  a  late  age,  if  at  all. 

In  the  United  States  census  of  1910,  there  were  of  all 
ages,  41.7  per  cent,  males  and  47.£  per  cent,  females  mar- 
ried, widowed  or  divorced.  Of  the  males,  38  per  cent, 
were  married,  3.1  per  cent,  widowers,  0.3  per  cent,  di- 
vorced, and  0.3  per  cent,  reported.  Of  the  females,  39.6 
per  cent,  were  married,  7.1  per  cent,  widows,  0.4  per  cent, 
divorced,  and  0.£  per  cent,  not  reported. 

Sixty  per  cent,  of  all  males  and  70  per  cent,  of  all  fe- 

220 


MARRIAGE  AND  EUGENICS 

males,  over  fifteen  years  of  age,  were  married,  widowed 
or  divorced;  4.5  per  cent,  of  these  males  were  widowers 
and  10.6  per  cent,  (more  than  twice  as  many)  females 
were  widows.  This  proportion  of  widowers  and  widows 
is  partially  accounted  for  by  reason  of  more  widowers 
remarrying  and  because  men  die  earlier  on  account  of  the 
nature  of  their  work,  and  to  some  extent  their  pleasures. 

There  were  over  seven  million  single  men  and  only  four 
million  single  women  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  forty- 
four.  We  have  already  shown  that  the  number  of  male 
and  female  children  born  is  about  the  same,  hence  it  must 
be  concluded  that  women  marry  at  an  earlier  age ;  further- 
more, our  immigrants  show  a  much  greater  proportion  of 
single  men  than  single  women.  Were  all  of  both  sexes 
between  twenty-five  and  forty  compelled  to  marry,  the 
excess  of  single  men  over  the  single  women  would  be  bal- 
anced by  the  widows  being  much  more  numerous  than  the 
widowers.  Nature  always  endeavors  to  maintain  an  equi- 
librium. 

In  the  United  States  there  are  over  thirteen  million  per- 
sons of  both  sexes  unmarried.  It  is  interesting  from  a 
sociological  standpoint  to  note  that  in  the  cities  and  towns, 
38  per  cent,  of  the  men  and  &6  per  cent,  of  the  women, 
between  twenty-five  and  thirty-four  were  single,  while  in 
the  country  or  rural  districts,  but  31  per  cent,  of  the 
men  and  15  per  cent,  of  the  women  were  single.  Surely 
farm  life  predisposes  to  a  sure  and  generally  an  early 
marriage. 

Practically  all  writers  on  the  question  of  marriage  begin 
their  argument  with  the  mating  of  animals,  showing  that 
many  of  them  live  a  monogamous  life;  then  they  mention 


222  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

the  social  relations  of  primitive  races  of  man.  Many  of 
these  by  virtue  of  their  nomadic  life  lived  in  a  state  of 
exogamy. 

To  many  it  may  be  surprising  to  know  that  since  the 
beginning  of  authentic  history  to  the  present  time  there 
have  been  many  tribes  of  savage,  barbarous,  and  semi- 
civilized  people  in  which  the  maternal  system  of  family 
inheritance  was  the  custom  and  law.  Is  it  not  mentioned 
in  Genesis,  "  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and 
mother  and  cleave  unto  his  wife  "  ?  Under  this  system 
the  man  would  become  a  part  of  the  wife's  family,  in  some 
places  even  taking  her  name. 

"  It  has  been  very  generally  assumed  that  maternal  de- 
scent is  due  largely  to  uncertainty  of  paternity,  and  that 
an  admission  that  the  maternal  system  has  been  universal 
is  practically  an  admission  of  promiscuity.  Opponents  of 
this  theory  have  consequently  felt  called  upon  to  minimize 
the  importance  of  maternal  descent.  But  descent  through 
females  is  not,  in  fact,  fully  explained  by  uncertainty  of 
parentage  on  the  male  side.  It  is  due  to  the  larger  social 
fact,  including  this  biological  one,  that  the  bond  between 
the  mother  and  child  is  closest  in  nature,  and  that  the 
group  grew  up  about  the  more  stationary  female,  and 
consequently  the  questions  of  maternal  descent  and  pro- 
miscuity are  by  no  means  so  inseparable  as  has  been 
commonly  supposed." —  Professor  Thomas,  Sex  and  So- 
ciety. 

As  was  mentioned  in  the  discussion  of  Female  Labor, 
much  of  the  history  of  man  shows  that  by  nature  man  is 
the  warrior  and  the  hunter,  while  woman  had  to  raise  the 
family,  till  the  soil  and  even  made  the  arrows,  mold  the 


MARRIAGE  AND  EUGENICS 

bullets  and  tan  the  hides  of  animals  brought  home.  Since 
she  was  the  mainstay  of  the  home,  she  was  the  government 
and  sometimes  she  was  allowed  to  have  several  husbands. 

The  relation  of  the  sexes  has  at  different  times  and 
places  taken  every  possible  form  we  are  able  to  conceive 
of.  These  different  forms  of  the  sexual  status  have  been 
determined  by  the  condition  of  the  people  and  their  rela- 
tions to  one  another.  But  whatever  the  form,  it  has  al- 
ways been  an  example  of  motion  in  the  direction  of  least 
resistance,  or  greater  attraction. 

Let  us  grant  for  the  sake  of  argument  that  Adam  was 
created  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  made  in  the  image  of  God, 
and  that  a  perfect  physical  woman,  Eve,  was  made  for 
him  from  his  own  rib.  We  have  here  then  man  and  woman 
perfect  from  an  eugenic  standpoint.  Their  children,  and 
children's  children  to  the  present  time,  if  no  attempt  had 
been  made  to  improve  each  generation  by  special  selection 
should  be  the  same  to-day  as  when  they  first  saw  their 
nakedness  and  were  ashamed.  We  believe  man  is  the  same 
to-day  as  he  is  described  in  Genesis.  Man  is  full  of  the 
"  old  Adam,"  just  as  bad  as  he  was.  Man  can  kill  as 
easily  as  did  his  son  Cain.  Man  is  the  same  old  man. 
But  we  do  change  our  natures,  we  are  continually  being 
acted  upon  by  the  various  forces,  which  producing  vari- 
ations and  modifications,  have  many  classes  of  people  with 
various  varieties  of  families,  many  of  which  have  more  or 
less  pronounced  types  of  individual  hybrids  and  mongrels. 

The  animal  breeder,  who  may  observe  twenty-five  parts 
of  a  Plymouth  Rock's  make-up  and  marking  to  be  judged 
at  the  bird  show,  or  who  may  pay  ten  thousand  dollars  for 
a  White  Orpington  hen,  or  who  may  feed,  stable  and 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

breed  his  sheep  and  hogs  as  if  they  were  worth  their 
weight  in  gold,  has  been  busy  teaching  man  that  children 
were  almost  as  good  as  pigs  and  goats.  Society  has 
awakened,  and  realizes  that  there  has  been  too  much  "  fall- 
ing in  love,"  and  "  heaven-made  marriages."  Many  aero- 
planes have  broken  their  steering  wheels  and  fallen  to 
earth.  Many  angels  (for  a  while)  are  now  every  day 
human  beings.  Marriage  is  a  reality;  courtship  was  a 
mirage.  Many  are  hunting  for  the  oasis. 

Virtue  may  be  blind  to  a  degree,  but  its  vision  is  most 
excellent  compared  to  that  of  love.  Love  is  too  often 
blindness  personified  —  the  shades  of  night  in  the  Arctic 
winter.  Too  oft  it  is  but  the  beating  of  a  passioned 
breast;  the  physical  emotion  without  any  semblance  of  a 
spiritual  man  or  woman.  On  the  other  hand  true  love, 
unbiased  by  physical  "  tropisms "  to  distort  and  annul 
normal  reason,  is  the  sweetest  thing  on  earth ;  it  is  life 
itself;  a  continual  sunshine,  with  no  thought  of  clouds 
and  storms  and  the  bitter  things  of  life. 

Such  a  true  ideal  union  of  two  lives  would  require  but 
little  eugenic  consideration.  But  we  must  accept  the  situ- 
ation as  it  presents  itself.  The  divorce  courts,  the  cases 
of  wife  beating,  nonsupport,  infidelity,  and  many  others 
too  numerous  to  mention,  furnish  the  press  with  a  large 
part  of  the  important  daily  events.  It  is  for  such  rea- 
sons that  eugenics  must  furnish  a  partial  solution  for  our 
social  whirlpool  of  domestic  infelicity,  illegitimate  chil- 
dren, etc.,  in  the  great  social  unrest. 

It  is  plain  from  such  considerations  that,  with  the  prog- 
ress of  civilization,  marriage  becomes  an  institution  which 
may  give  greater  joy,  or  which  may  inflict  deeper  misery. 


MARRIAGE  AND  EUGENICS 

There  are  three  general  methods  of  looking  at  the  mar- 
riage relation:  (1)  Marriage  for  love;  (2)  business 
method,  as  marriage  for  property  and  family  consider- 
ations ;  (3)  friendship  and  companionship.  In  the  primi- 
tive tribes  we  find  the  sexual  interest  very  great,  and  a 
woman  was  of  great  value  from  this  viewpoint. 

Later,  we  find  that  many  conquests  were  followed  by 
marriages  between  men  and  women  of  the  victorious  and 
the  conquered  nations.  Alexander  chose  his  wives  from 
the  nations  he  subdued;  he  insisted  that  his  courtiers  do 
the  same.  When  the  Romans  wanted  to  weaken  Mace- 
donia, they  ordered  that  there  should  be  no  inter-mar- 
riages between  the  people  of  different  provinces.  The 
national  reason  is  seen  in  royal  marriages  of  to-day  be- 
tween prince  and  princess  of  nations  who  wish  thus  to 
seal  an  agreement  to  remain  on  friendly  terms.  It  is  for 
power,  prominence  and  finance  that  the  articles  of  agree- 
ment are  signed  whereby  a  "  has  been  "  count  or  a  "  duke's 
mixture  "  agrees  to  deliver  the  name  of  the  family  crest 
and  the  keys  of  an  "  about  to  be  foreclosed  "  castle,  to  a 
certain  "  butter-scotch  "  or  a  "  pork  and  beans  "  Chicago 
millionaire,  once  a  poor  boy,  in  return  for  which  the  gen- 
erous count  or  duke  is  to  receive  a  small  sum  of  "  hand 
money  "  for  signing  the  valuable  articles,  also  an  annuity 
of  some  hundred  thousand  as  long  as  the  guarantor  re- 
mains solvent,  and  finally  he  is  to  take  charge  of  the 
donor's  daughter  "  to  boot."  This  form  of  marriage  is 
not  recommended  by  any  eugenists  for  the  titled  gen- 

|  tlemen  could  seldom  present  evidence  of  being  eugenically 

I  able  to  continue  good  healthy  generations. 

Most  people  with  even  a  small  amount  of  American 


226  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

patriotism  decry  such  an  international  marriage,  whereby 
we  lose  so  much  gold  to  Europe,  and  receive  in  return 
only  scandal  in  years  to  come.  But  how  many  mothers 
and  fathers,  how  many  daughters  themselves  are  not  using 
every  means  at  their  command  to  make  a  certain  catch 
regardless  of  who  and  what  the  man  is,  physically  and 
morally?  How  many  men  have  set  their  nets  for  fish  with 
golden  scales? 

The  morality  of  the  marriage  state  is  very  different  as  it 
is  looked  at  from  these  different  points  of  view.  The  mar- 
riage relation  is  said  to  be  pure  if  legally  sanctioned,  and 
the  Church  makes  it  holy  by  giving  its  blessing,  although 
the  parties  bound  by  it  may  have  neither  love  nor  friend- 
ship for  each  other. 

The  Kansas  Board  of  Education  recently  called  atten- 
tion to  the  value  of  domestic  science  courses  in  the  schools 
as  a  check  upon  divorce.  Of  800  girls  graduated  from 
the  higher  State  schools  since  domestic  science  courses 
were  added,  440  have  been  married  and  not  one  has 
sought  either  a  separation  or  a  divorce.  Therefore  the 
board  concludes  that  a  girl  who  can  furnish  a  good  meal 
properly  cooked  and  daintily  served,  is  liable  to  do  her 
own  mending  and  trim  some  of  her  own  hats,  besides  keep- 
ing her  home  neat  and  attractive. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  inform  the  man  and  woman 
contemplating  marriage  to  stop  and  seriously  consider 
whether  or  not  each  or  both  of  them  are  physically, 
morally  and  financially  capable  of  entering  into  and  con- 
tinuing a  reasonably  satisfactory  married  life.  Both  par- 
ties may  measure  up  to  every  requirement  any  body  of 
scientific  men  might  present  and  still  the  marriage  would 


MARRIAGE  AND  EUGENICS  227 

not  be  a  success,  because  the  two  parties  were  tempera- 
mentally different.  The  marriage  state  is  somewhat  of  a 
lottery.  It  is  the  only  institution  into  which,  in  most 
States,  all  may  enter  —  the  lame,  the  halt,  the  diseased, 
the  pauper,  the  convict,  the  mentally  defective  —  and  be 
allowed  to  reproduce  their  kind,  many  of  which  will  be 
supported  in  penal  and  charitable  institutions. 

So  difficult  is  the  solution  of  proper  mating  and  of  the 
right  to  bear  children  that  we  have  many  views,  beginning 
with  that  of  free  love  societies  where  the  State  may  care 
for  all  children;  then  the  opinion  of  Bernard  Shaw,  who 
believes  that  all  women  should  have  the  privilege  of  ma- 
ternity, married  or  not;  and  next,  the  general  view  of 
most  persons  who  believe  that  all  who  desire  should  be 
permitted  to  marry;  finally,  we  see  that  of  the  extreme 
eugenists  who  claim  that  only  those  passing  the  most  rigid 
physical  examination  should  be  allowed  the  marriage  privi- 
lege, 

In  the  near  future  we  must  demonstrate  that  plants, 
animals,  and  human  beings  are  entirely  different  as  far 
as  "  breeding  true  "  is  concerned.  So  many  influences  are 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  various  forms  of  organic  life 
that  this  might  be  so.  Burbank  will  cast  aside  thousands 
of  plants  just  to  secure  one  that  is  just  right  for  his  ex- 
periments. Civilized  people,  at  least,  are  mongrels,  in 
that  each  individual  contains  "  units "  representing  in- 
numerable ancestors  in  the  dominant  and  recessive  charac- 
teristics of  their  physical  structure.  What  then  must  be 
the  presentation  of  various  ancestors  in  their  mental 
manifestations?  A  reasonable  effort  should  be  made  for 
more  better  and  less  undesirable  marriages,  which  will  give 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

us  happier  homes,  better  society,  and  from  an  economic 
standpoint  save  us  millions  of  dollars  in  caring  for  the 
defectives,  diseased,  paupers  and  criminals. 

Oscar  Heath  of  the  Englewood  High  Schools,  Chicago, 
in  "  Composts  of  Tradition,"  says :  "  Marriage  is  a  re- 
strictive device  which  interferes  with  the  greatest  func- 
tion for  which  mankind  was  created,  and  at  the  same  time 
supplies  an  opportunity  for  the  grossest  immorality  under 
the  guise  or  disguise  of  holy  matrimony.  The  greatest 
virtue  a  woman  has  is  her  longing  for  children.  The 
greatest  vice  man  has  is  his  desire  to  monopolize  her  pro- 
ductivity. The  wedding  ring  is  the  badge  of  the  bondage 
of  woman's  virtue  to  man's  vice.  Why  should  not  the 
man  wear  the  wedding  ring  as  a  token  that  he  belongs  to 
woman?  Society  should  pension  mothers  who  are  wives 
and  should  provide  both  subsidies  and  pensions  for  moth- 
ers who  have  the  courage  to  become  such  without  first  be- 
coming wives." 

With  some  of  this  I  agree,  but  the  average  mother  who 
has  support  for  her  children  does  not  wish  medals  and 
pensions.  Her  children  are  her  honor.  Those  who  should 
and  will  not  have  children  are  the  ones  who  will  be  dishon- 
ored, and  there  is  the  reward  of  the  real  mother.  The 
poor  mother  trying  to  support  her  children  frequently 
deserves  and  will  soon  receive  support  from  the  State. 
The  greatest  coward  in  a  civilized  country  is  the  man 
who  is  responsible  for  the  birth  of  a  child  and  allows  the 
unmarried  mother  to  bear  and  care  for  that  child  without 
giving  them  financial  assistance.  Our  laws  must  be  re- 
vised in  this  matter.  If  he  refuses  his  support  he  should 
be  sentenced  to  the  workhouse  and  the  value  of  his  wages 


MARRIAGE  AND  EUGENICS  229 

given  to  these  poor  unfortunates  for  their  support. 

Dr.  Emmet  Densmore,  in  "  Sex  Equality,"  says :  "  We 
cannot  determine  by  experiment  whether  a  day  nurs- 
ery, under  competent  supervision  is  not  as  much  bet- 
ter for  our  infants  than  home  nursing,  as  our  day  school 
is  better  than  any  ordinary  method  of  home  teaching.  .  .  . 
The  strong  vigorous  mother  skilled  in  some  trade  or  pro- 
fession by  which  she  might  earn  as  much  as  or  even  more 
than  her  husband  has  time  in  the  morning  to  give  her  child 
an  ample  caressing,  to  look  into  the  adequacy  of  its  care, 
and  then  leave  for  the  day  to  engage  in  lucrative,  con- 
genial employment  that  to  many  would  be  more  attractive 
than  the  monotonous  tedium  of  an  unchanging  environ- 
ment where  endless  household  cares,  routine  work  and 
drudgery  weary  and  dishearten  —  she  is  far  more  likely 
to  engage  her  husband  with  interesting  or  intellectual  con- 
versation and  make  herself  attractive  than  her  worn-out 
prototype  of  the  present  day.  He  is  not  nearly  so  apt 
to  seek  his  evening  relaxation  elsewhere." 

The  views  of  Dr.  Densmore  are  certainly  very  radical, 
le  cannot  want  the  average  woman  whose  husband  can 
support  her,  and  in  the  ideal  state  of  home  life  all  should, 
to  seek  employment  elsewhere.  He  evidently  realizes  the 
great  demand  of  the  family  to  provide  modern  dress,  home 
furnishings  and  amusements  to  keep  up  with  the  times. 
He  thinks  of  the  New  York  school  teachers  who  cannot 
be  married  and  have  children.  He  observes  the  vast  army 
of  girls  who  are  working  at  good  salaries  and  cannot 
marry  the  average  young  men  who  are  unable  to  support 
them  as  they  have  been  accustomed  to  by  their  own  efforts. 
Many  of  these  women  as  well  as  those  working  at  a  less 


230  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

wage  and  those  unemployed  finally  hear  the  call  of  na- 
ture, the  maternal  instinct,  and  marry  hoping  for  the 
best. 

I  am  firmly  convinced  that  we  should  make  labor  and 
social  conditions  such  that  more  of  our  men  and  women 
could  marry  at  an  earlier  age.  And  while  we  are  striving 
for  the  marriage  of  more  of  the  physically  able,  we  must 
prevent  by  rational  methods  the  marriage  of  the  unfit.  As 
long  as  the  sanction  of  the  Church  is  asked  and  their 
ministers  and  priests  solemnize  the  wedding  ceremonies, 
they  must  feel  it  their  duty  to  assist  in  preventing  the 
unfit  to  marry.  Many  of  these  excellent  men  are  already 
doing  much  in  this  respect. 

The  parents  and  women  must  demand  that  man  be  as 
good  physically  as  the  woman.  The  unfortunate  woman 
is  cast  aside,  a  stigma  upon  her  and  her  child  while  the 
man  demands  a  woman  who  has  always  led  a  life  of  virtue. 

"  If  the  vilest  mortal  that  lives  sees  proper  to  marry, 
the  law  issues  the  license  for  the  asking,  takes  the  fee, 
makes  the  record,  and  leaves  the  offspring  and  society  to 
shift  for  themselves  as  best  they  can,  even  paupers,  while 
in  the  poorhouse,  and  criminals,  while  in  jail,  are  in  every 
way  encouraged  and  given  licenses  to  marry,  and  are  pro- 
tected by  the  law.  No  thought  is  taken  for  the  unfortu- 
nate offspring,  or  for  the  body  politic  and  social,  and 
the  irreparable  evils  that  must  fall  upon  all.  The  Church 
adds  its  sanction,  and  its  ministers  aid  in  making  these 
contracts  by  performing  a  ceremony  with  prayers  and 
benedictions.  If  it  is  wise  to  prohibit  polygamy,  mar- 
riage between  relations,  and  between  persons  whose  insan- 
ity or  idiocy  is  self-evident,  it  is  equally  wise  to  prohibit 


MARRIAGE  AND  EUGENICS  231 

it  in  all  cases  where  evil  may  follow.  If  the  law  has  the 
power  to  prohibit  or  punish  violation  in  the  one  case,  it 
has  equal  right  in  all  others. 

"  There  is  an  endless  procession  of  children  from  all 
these  sources  coming  into  the  mass  of  population  to  live 
lives  of  crime,  immorality,  want,  suffering,  misfortune,  and 
degeneracy,  transmitting  the  taint  in  constantly  widen- 
ing streams,  generation  after  generation,  with  the  ulti- 
mate certainty  of  the  deterioration  of  the  race  and  final 
irreparable  degeneracy." —  Reeve. 

"  However  much  of  our  optimistic  bent  may  incline  us 
to  envelop  the  future  in  an  effulgence  of  bliss,  we  must, 
nevertheless,  come  in  our  cooler  moments  to  the  facts  of 
recorded  and  present  experience,  and  these  compel  us  to 
reject  the  notion  of  perfect  harmony  in  the  affectional 
relations  at  any  time  or  under  any  circumstances,  as  a 
Utopian  dream." —  Anonymous. 

"  Why  Men  do  not  Marry,"  from  the  Strand  —  Dr. 
C.  W.  Saleeby :  "  We  shall  need  to  make  the  conditions 
of  marriage,  including  divorce,  infinitely  fairer  for  women 
if  marriage  is  to  maintain  its  place  in  the  social  structure." 
Canon  Horsley :  "  The  cause  which  occurs  to  me  as  the 
chief,  is  that  young  men,  more  than  young  women,  re- 
quire a  higher  standard  of  living  at  the  beginning  of 
housekeeping  than  their  parents."  Sarah  Bernhardt: 
"  It  is,  I  feel  sure,  the  change  in  manners,  habits,  customs 
of  the  times  that  is  responsible  for  the  steadily  decreasing 
marriage  rate."  Arthur  Bourchier :  "  In  my  humble 
opinion  the  fact  that  the  marriage  rate  is  declining  is  al- 
most the  fault  of  the  woman.  The  modern  woman  is  less 
forbearing  and  patient  than  was  her  grandmother.  She 


232  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

is  too  excessively  prone  to  indulge  in  that  most  unpleasar 
of  all  habits  —  nagging."  Sir  Hiram  Maxim :  "  Higher 
education  of  the  children;  increase  in  number  of  the  de- 
pendents ;  high  cost  of  living ;  and  desire  of  young  ladies 
for  as  luxurious  a  home  as  they  have."  Mrs.  C.  N.  Wil- 
liamson :  "  Because  the  cost  of  things  keeps  going  up. 
Poverty  seems  to  come  in  at  the  door  unless  a  chauffeur  can 
drive  up  to  it  with  some  vague  cheap  suggestion  of  a  mo- 
tor-car, and  Love  stands  ready  to  bolt  out  of  the  window 
unless  it  can  be  curtained  with  the  most  charming  muslin 
and  chintz." 

George  K.  Kneeland,  a  well-known  investigator,  says, 
in  discussing  a  solution  to  diminish  social  ills :  "  Use  your 
influence  to  bring  about  better  economic  and  industrial 
conditions  so  that  fathers  can  be  masters  in  their  home; 
so  that  young  men  can  marry  early  in  life.  Teach  ig- 
norant mothers  and  fathers  so  that  they  will  love  and 
understand  their  children  more  than  they  do. 

u  Teach  boys  and  young  men  to  honor  womanhood. 
You  can  make  them  realize  that  young  girls  represent 
more  than  half  of  all  future  generations ;  that  upon  them 
depends  the  health  and  power  of  the  race,  that  to  injure 
a  girl,  take  advantage  of  her  racial  instinct  at  a  critical 
moment  is  a  crime  against  unborn  generations.  Men  must 
learn  to  sacrifice  themselves,  if  need  be,  for  the  good  of 
the  race.  Use  your  influence  to  restore  to  the  home  the 
simple,  yet  powerful  protection  which  grows  out  of  the 
belief  in  the  religion  of  our  fathers." 


WHY  GIRLS  GO  WRONG 

Vice  is  a  monster  of  so  frightful  mien, 
As  to  be  hated,  needs  but  to  be  seen; 

But  seen  too  oft,  familiar  with  her  face, 
We  must  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace. 

THESE  words  of  Pope  open  up  a  great  philosoph- 
ical problem.     In  each  of  us  there  is  a  residuum 
of  our  forefathers,  including  no  small  amount  of 
disease.     Some  of  us  may  have  a  certain  amount  of  natu- 
ral  immunity   to    certain    temptations    and    vices,    others 
acquire   a   further   immunity  by   continual   resistance  to 
these  assaults  on  our  various  natures,  which  eventually 
becomes  sufficient  to  withstand  the  average  temptations  of 
life. 

Man  is  an  animal  normally  endowed  by  more  or  less  of 
the  "  sex  pull."  A  proper  restraint  of  this  nature  de- 
pends upon  a  healthy  body  and  a  sufficient  degree  of  intelli- 
gence. The  various  structures  of  the  human  organism 
are  endowed  with  the  property  of  reaction  to  many  stimuli 
internal  and  external  to  that  organism.  An  abnormal 
condition  of  certain  parts  of  the  body  shows  abnormal 
reactions  to  these  stimuli  in  such  a  way  that  no  two  per- 
sons, although  apparently  alike,  will  show  exactly  the  same 
response,  hence  they  are  more  or  less  different.  The  stu- 
dent of  sociology  must  recognize  these  differences  in  his 
endeavor  to  provide  solutions  for  our  social  ills.  We  may 
classify  conditions,  but  in  the  end  the  active  worker  must 

233 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

study  the  individual,  hence  the  difficult  task  before  us  in 
providing  a  cure  for  the  social  evil.  In  my  investigations 
of  this  enormous  problem  I  have  studied  hundreds  of 
individual  cases.  In  five  years'  service  to  a  Maternity 
Hospital,  it  was  my  duty  to  take  care  of  several  hundred 
girls  and  young  women  who  gave  birth  to  illegitimate 
children.  Who  can  imagine  the  sorrows  in  the  lives  of 
these  unfortunate  women!  What  was  the  cause  of  their 
failure  to  show  a  sufficient  amount  of  resistance?  Who 
can  point  the  finger  of  scorn  at  these  women  and  say  that 
they  alone  were  to  blame? 

All  temptations  are  much  less  dangerous  if  the  individual 
secures  every  possible  means  to  increase  her  resistance. 
As  will  be  mentioned  later,  companions  determine  largely 
the  needs  of  an  individual.  Frequently  one  is  compelled 
to  associate  with  those  who  exert  a  very  evil  influence  over 
others.  As  reasonable  judges  we  cannot  expect  young 
girls  to  choose  the  best.  Natural  forces  follow  the  lines  of 
least  resistance;  it  is  easier  to  play  than  to  work  and  to 
satisfy  the  animal  nature  than  to  resist.  The  remedy  lies 
with  society  or  that  part  of  society  that  has  to  do  with  the 
uplift  of  mankind.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Church  as  a 
whole,  not  this  or  that  denomination,  to  provide  means 
whereby  every  girl  can  be  surrounded  with  good  influences 
much  of  the  time.  Utopia  provides  a  "  big  sister  "  whose 
duty  it  will  be  to  prevent  the  downfall  of  those  less  for- 
tunate. It  will  be  the  duty  of  society  to  provide  safe 
employment,  healthful  exercise,  clean  amusements  and  re- 
ligious teachings  for  every  girl.  Thousands  spent  in 
prophylaxis  is  many  times  better  than  millions  in  cure  of 
social  ills  which  rarely  cure. 


WHY  GIRLS  GO  WRONG  235 

Why  do  girls  go  wrong?  The  social  evil  has  always 
been  present  with  us  and  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  will 
be  for  generations  to  come.  In  civilized  communities  the 
double  standard  of  morals,  where  the  girl  is  censured,  dis- 
graced and  cast  from  society  with  no  helping  hand,  none 
to  care  for  her  and  restore  her  to  a  happy  home,  while 
the  man  is  allowed  to  remain  an  ornament  to  society, 
often  pitied,  is  the  most  important  factor  in  producing 
this  evil.  Second  in  importance  is  the  home  life  where 
a  failure  of  the  parents  to  properly  provide  education  in 
morals,  where  the  home  life  is  full  of  strife,  misery,  im- 
proper chastisements  and  lack  of  healthful  pleasure. 
Countless  parents  to-day  are  either  too  ignorant  or  occu- 
pied in  other  things  to  care  for  the  welfare  of  their  chil- 
dren. To  a  great  extent  the  mother  is  to  blame  for  the 
waywardness  of  the  daughter.  This  training  must  be 
begun  sufficiently  early  to  be  effective.  The  mother  should 
know  the  character  of  the  boy  and  girl  friends ;  she  should 
know  positively  as  the  daughter  reaches  the  age  full  of 
temptations,  whether  or  not  she  is  always  at  places  told 
her.  Remaining  over  night  with  a  girl  friend  or  at  a 
public  cafe  for  dinner  or  after  theater  supper,  is  danger- 
ous to  some  young  girls  and  many  older  ones.  In  this 
connection  we  mention  poor  tenement  houses  badly  ven- 
tilated, illness  of  parents,  drunkenness,  poverty  on  one 
hand,  and  on  the  other  the  demands  of  society,  small 
families,  children  given  over  to  a  governess,  balls,  wine 
suppers  and  divorce. 

The  next  factor  is  that  of  companions.  The  good  apple 
never  improves  the  bad  one.  The  words  of  Pope  are  very 
pertinent  in  this  connection.  The  girl  who  works  in  a 


236  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

factory,  or  stands  behind  a  counter  all  day,  going  home 
tired  at  night,  compelled  to  live  in  a  house  full  of  tur- 
moil, probably  giving  most  or  all  of  her  small  earnings 
to  help  the  family,  will  after  a  time  give  close  attention 
to  those  of  her  companions  who  are  passing  their  evenings 
in  a  more  exciting  way,  at  a  dance  hall  and  other  places 
of  amusement.  She  soon  learns  that  many  are  obtaining 
money  other  than  what  they  receive  as  wages.  Finally 
the  temptations  of  a  still  further  life  of  ease  are  presented 
to  her  and  her  downfall  is  easily  accomplished. 

The  wage  question  has  been  continually  mentioned  as 
the  one  reason  why  girls  go  wrong.  I  cannot  agree  with 
those  who  place  this  first;  other  conditions  being  as  they 
should,  very  few  girls  will  fall  for  this  reason  alone.  It 
is  true  that  many  girls  in  factories  and  stores  will  and 
do  go  wrong,  but  there  are  other  factors  back  of  low  wages. 
We  should  have  a  minimum  wage  for  all  working  women 
and  all  should  work  to  secure  the  enactment  of  such  laws. 
But  in  studying  the  wage  of  the  girl  behind  the  counter 
we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  temptation  with  which  she  is 
continually  met.  The  good  looking  girl  falls  before  her 
homely  sister  with  similar  home  life  and  wages.  The 
events  in  the  downward  path  of  the  clerk  are  frequently 
as  follows :  A  man,  too  frequently  married,  is  attracted 
by  the  comely  appearance  of  the  girl.  He  starts  a  con- 
versation with  her,  using  a  little  flattery;  at  a  second  or 
later  appearance  he  importunes  her  to  lunch,  then  a 
dinner,  theater  with  wine  supper,  automobile  ride  perhaps, 
and  likely  a  visit  to  the  house  of  a  friend,  which  proves  to 
be  an  assignation  house;  presents  as  hats,  dresses,  com- 
plete her  desire  for  a  life  of  ease.  She  may  become  a 


WHY  GIRLS  GO  WRONG  237 

mother,  disgraced,  and  pass  her  subsequent  life  in  a  house 
of  prostitution. 

Very  many  a  virtuous  girl  believes  the  man  who  prom- 
ises to  marry  her  and  is  happy  and  secure  in  this  belief; 
she  permits  her  resistance  to  temptations  to  be  lowered  to 
such  a  degree  that  she  virtually  becomes  his  mistress. 
The  knowledge  of  her  weakness  and  his  desire  for  a  virtu- 
ous girl  causes  him  to  grow  cold,  and  finally  abandon  her 
to  a  life  of  shame.  Having  taken  one  bite  out  of  the 
apple  of  dangerous  experience  she  may  think  that  a  few 
more  bites  will  not  make  her  any  worse.  If  she  has  become 
pregnant  many  a  man  will  not  be  willing  to  face  the  world 
with  a  wife  in  trouble,  even  though  he  be  the  cause  of  it. 
No,  he  must  marry  when  he  may  choose  and  be  able  to  look 
the  world  in  the  face  and  say  he  did  no  wrong.  Many 
thousands  of  women  are  in  houses  of  prostitution  and  sup- 
porting illegitimate  children,  for  the  only  reason  that  these 
women  were  forsaken  because  they  believed  in  the  promise 
of  man. 

A  mother  that  does  not  observe  that  her  daughter 
is  wearing  clothes  which  could  not  be  purchased  with  her 
share  of  her  earnings  is  certainly  assisting  in  her  ruin. 
Vanity  and  a  life  of  ease  with  amusements  easily  follow 
when  these  opportunities  have  been  offered  and  accepted. 
The  cloak  models  and  higher  priced  sales-ladies  accept 
these  offers  as  frequently  as  their  poorly  paid  sisters.  A 
very  small  percentage  of  girls  become  prostitutes  from  sex- 
ual desire  alone.  An  increase  of  wages  is  too  frequently 
followed  by  an  increase  in  expenditures  for  dress,  with  the 
result  that  the  savings  are  no  greater  than  before.  Home 
extravagances  are  becoming  so  great  that  the  age  of  mar- 


238  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

riage  is  becoming  too  late  for  real  homes.  The  ability  of 
the  woman  to  obtain  a  salary  equal  to  the  man  frequently 
prevents  her  marrying  until  late,  if  at  all.  The  auto- 
mobile, alcohol,  and  late  hours  are  very  important  factors 
in  lowering  the  resistance  of  the  girl  to  a  life  of  virtue. 
When  the  courting  hours  reach  into  the  small  hours  of 
the  night,  the  young  people  are  treading  on  dangerous 
grounds.  As  when  a  man  is  intoxicated  with  too  much 
alcohol,  so  are  those  sexual  passions  which  are  allowed  to 
have  full  sway,  with  no  restraining  hand  of  reason  which 
has  been  banished  in  those  late  hours  of  imaginary  love. 

Last  but  not  least  is  the  marriage  of  the  unfit.  The  day 
is  not  far  distant  when  the  marriage  license  will  include  a 
certificate  of  health  which  will  permit  the  married  couple 
to  live  a  more  happy  life  with  less  possibilities  of  extra- 
conjugal  intercourse  and  later  divorce  and  what  fre- 
quently happens  to  the  woman,  a  life  in  a  house  of  prosti- 
tution. The  girl  must  be  taught  that  she  has  sexual 
organs  which  must  be  properly  cared  for ;  that  certain 
physiological  processes  are  especially  active  during 
puberty.  That  in  this  developmental  period  certain  events 
must  occur  and  should  do  so  regularly  unless  interrupted 
by  pregnancy.  They  must  be  taught  how  this  pregnant 
condition  is  brought  about,  what  it  means  and  the  result. 
They  must  know  the  result  of  infection  with  venereal  dis- 
ease, how  it  may  affect  their  health  and  children.  I  must 
add  that  if  the  men  had  to  suffer  as  a  result  of  venereal 
disease,  frequently  having  their  sexual  organs  removed, 
as  do  women,  the  social  evil  would  diminish  very  much. 
In  conclusion  we  must  recognize  that  certain  factors  cause 
a  woman  to  sin  a  first  time,  while  entirely  different  reasons 


WHY  GIRLS  GO  WRONG  239 

cause  a  woman  deserted  by  her  husband  or  a  pregnant 
girl  forsaken  by  a  false  lover  to  enter  a  house  of  prostitu- 
tion. 


WHY  MEN  GO  WRONG 

IN  the  chapter  "  Why  Girls  go  Wrong,"  I  attempted 
to  show  that  each  individual  is  in  a  large  sense  a  law 
unto  himself,  in  that  no  two  persons  are  created  alike 
in  their  ability  to  react  in  the  same  way  to  similar  stimuli. 
What  applies  to  woman  in  this  respect  is  also  true  for 
man ;    lower   the   power   of   resistance,   increase    the    sus- 
ceptibility to  reactions  or  increase  the  stimulus  in  the  way 
of  temptation  and  man  will  sin  more  quickly.     The  effect 
is  more  positive  if  any  one  or  more  of  these  conditions 
are  made  continual  in  action. 

Ask  the  man  why  he  commits  sexual  sins  and  he  replies, 
"  Eve  tempted  me."  Ask  woman  in  turn  and  the  answer 
is,  "  The  serpent,  man,  is  responsible."  The  solution  is 
as  unsatisfactory  as  the  biological  problem  of  which  came 
first,  the  hen  or  the  egg. 

In  studying  prostitution  in  a  practical  way  I  am  im- 
pressed and  depressed  by  the  fact  that  the  public  knows 
but  little  of  the  enormous  amount  of  the  psychopathic 
state  so  evident  in  the  prostitute  and  her  co-partner  in  the 
awful  practice  of  some  form  of  perversion.  Studies  show 
that  frequent  visitations  to  the  brothel  soon  produce  a 
state  of  mental  depravity  exhibited  as  frequently,  or  I 
often  believe  more  so,  in  the  professional  or  business  man, 
than  in  the  laborer,  because  in  a  stage  of  more  or  less  sex- 
ual excitement  with  less  power  of  reason  and  inhibition  due 
to  alcoholic  stimulation  the  passions  demand  unnatural 
methods  of  satisfaction. 

240 


WHY  MEN  GO  WRONG 

In  these  respects  man  is  far  inferior  to  the  brute.  The 
animal  instinct  is  a  natural  attribute  which  provides  for 
the  preservation  of  the  individual.  In  man  with  intel- 
ligence and  reason  we  frequently  observe  that  knowledge 
of  the  result  of  an  infraction  of  well  known  physical  laws 
does  not  prevent  the  offender  from  committing  acts  which 
he  certainly  knows  will  prove  disastrous  to  himself  and 
others  dependent  upon  him. 

We  well  know  when  a  man  jumps  into  a  river  and  rescues 
a  drowning  companion,  he  may  be  given  a  "  hero  medal." 
It  requires  many  times  more  courage  for  a  man  to  resist 
ordinary  temptations  or  to  take  the  stand  for  right  prin- 
ciples in  the  face  of  adverse  criticism,  than  to  perform  any 
of  these  glorious  feats  of  daring  in  saving  life.  It  is  not 
the  fear  of  death  that  prevents  a  man  from  doing  these 
worthy  deeds  of  rescue,  for  most  men  will  face  bullets  in 
the  battle  with  possible  death  in  each  instance.  Moral 
courage  demands  a  higher  development.  We  need  real 
men  to  fight  in  this  social  warfare  in  which  so  many  vic- 
tims are  already  "  battle  scarred  "  from  degeneracy  and 
venereal  disease. 

We  need  men  who  think  of  something  superior  and  more 
lasting  than  the  almighty  dollar.  Were  it  not  for  the 
greed  of  money  to  be  so  easily  gotten  in  trafficking  in  so 
many  ways  in  vice,  our  problem  would  be  quite  easy  to 
solve.  The  merchant  who  sells  to  the  brothel,  the  lawyer 
who  acts  as  counsel,  the  physician  who  carelessly  examines 
the  prostitute,  the  cadet  who  obtains  a  miserable  existence 
as  a  parasite  upon  these  unfortunate  women,  the  politician 
who  profits  by  their  persecution,  and  many  others  demand 
the  continual  existence  of  prostitution,  making  it  a  per- 


242  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

feet  system  of  organized  vice. 

Why  do  men  go  wrong?  The  first  answer  is  the  nat- 
ural one  of  supply  and  demand.  The  first  demand  in  the 
large  city  is  the  demand  above  mentioned  for  its  necessary 
existence,  not  for  the  physiological  safety  of  the  man, 
but  the  demand  of  these  vultures  for  this  business  from 
which  they  gain  such  enormous  profits.  The  houses  hav- 
ing come  in  existence,  attractions  of  music,  dancing,  liquor, 
etc.,  having  been  added  to  the  wiles  of  the  prostitute,  the 
patronage  is  soon  established  and  then  the  second  demand 
for  so  many  inmates  is  created  and  is  continued  as  long 
as  demand  number  one  is  insisted  upon. 

We  have  easily  proven  that  with  less  houses  and  no 
attractions  the  visitors  diminish  to  those  still  in  existence ; 
but  the  former  inmates  forced  into  the  city  streets,  room- 
ing houses,  apartments,  cry  out  in  distress,  "  Here  we  are, 
we  cannot  work  for  small  wages,  we  must  live."  Now  the 
conditions  are  changed.  It  is  not  the  demand  of  the  men 
for  those  women  but  the  demand  of  women  for  men  whom 
they  desire  for  revenue,  hence  she  goes  out  in  search  for 
whom  she  may  devour. 

Provide  a  solution  as  to  how  these  women  can  be  cared 
for  charitably.  Compulsory  laws  may  be  necessary  where- 
by those  unwilling  to  lead  a  respectable  life  at  honest 
wages  may  be  placed  in  industrial  homes  where  they  can 
comfortably  live,  work  and  save  a  certain  portion  of  their 
earnings.  Remove  the  temptation  of  the  street  from  men 
who  have  little  power  of  resistance  and  much  will  be  ac 
complished. 

I  have  already  shown  the  fallacy  of  the  double  stand- 
ard, but  I  do  not  deny  that  man  has  ever  been  a  slave  to 


WHY  MEN  GO  WRONG 

the  beauty  of  woman.  "  A  fool  there  was,"  has  been  and 
will  be  true.  Nations  have  fallen,  homes  have  been  de- 
serted, every  crime  possible  committed  for  a  woman,  not 
for  love,  but  for  passions,  which  knew  no  end  and  over 
which  reason,  if  it  existed,  had  no  control. 

I  must  repeat,  good  women  are  largely  to  blame  for 
man's  sin,  for  she  permits  him  to  insist  that  he  must  have 
a  virtuous  wife,  regardless  of  what  he  may  have  been.- 
She  is  willing  to  become  a  martyr  and  endure  the  surgeon's 
knife,  probably  death,  because  the  disease  was  not  cured. 
He  may  have  repented  of  his  physical  sins  but  the  repent- 
ance does  not  restore  normal  physical  conditions  which 
existed  before  disease,  the  seed  is  still  growing.  Let  her 
demand  a  certificate  of  health  from  the  man  before  mar- 
riage and  we  will  soon  observe  that  he  will  be  more  careful 
in  his  years  of  discretion.  Could  we  compel  man  to  have 
his  organs  of  generation  removed  when  he  has  venereal 
disease  as  frequently  as  woman  must  suffer  for  this  reason, 
prostitution  would  cease  immediately.  Man  would  not 
endure  these  things  he  forces  upon  woman. 

A  woman,  when  asked  why  men  go  wrong,  replied,  "  They 
have  never  known  any  better.  God  laid  down  through 
Moses,  the  Commandments,  Thou  shalt  not  do  this  and 
Thou  shalt  not  do  that,  but  man  has  said  to  woman  these 
things  refer  to  you  in  which  thou  shalt  not.  Man  makes 
law  for  man."  This  woman  is  right;  man  will  generally 
do  what  custom  says  is  right.  He  will  defend  the  flag  to 
death;  but  insults  woman  repeatedly;  he  will  be  true  to 
his  party,  but  forget  his  church ;  he  will  spend  millions  for 
coast  defense,  for  expositions,  for  protection  of  animal 
and  plant  industries,  but  little  or  nothing  for  saving  the 


£44  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

virtue  of  our  daughters  and  the  health  of  our  wives  and 
mothers.  It  is  true  they  have  never  known  any  better. 

Compel  the  man  who  enters  a  house  of  prostitution  to 
be  examined  or  show  a  certificate  in  the  way  he  demands 
of  the  inmate  and  the  doors  of  these  houses  would  be 
closed  by  the  sheriff  in  a  short  time.  Compel  man  to  abuse 
himself  in  such  a  way  that  his  life  of  activity  would  be 
shortened  to  a  very  few  years,  and  add  to  this  continual 
harassments,  compelled  to  move  from  place  to  place,  dis- 
graced by  all  men,  no  one  to  offer  a  helping  hand  should 
he  desire  to  reform,  and  every  legislature  would  call  special 
sessions  to  speedily  exterminate  all  who  had  a  voice  and 
hand  in  permitting  such  barbarous  and  pernicious  condi- 
tions to  exist.  Is  not  the  female  child  of  the  same  flesh 
and  blood  as  the  male?  Is  not  the  daughter  of  the  la- 
borer or  the  widow  as  dear  as  your  daughter  ? 

Would  you,  Mr.  Man  who  visit  the  prostitute,  allow 
your  sister  or  your  daughter  to  lead  such  a  life?  Would 
you  not  rise  up  in  arms  against  any  one  who  would  com- 
pel them  to  become  such?  Men  go  wrong,  because  some 
one,  because  many  of  us  make  conditions,  whereby  the 
unprotected  are  forced  by  attractions  of  a  better  income 
and  less  misery  to  leave  their  previous  troubles,  to  enter 
prostitution.  The  red  light  district  and  screened  door 
silently  proclaim  for  these  victims,  "  Come,  enter,  you  have 
accomplished  your  purpose,  enter  and  enjoy  yourself,  you 
miserable  ingrate,  fulfill  your  promise,  while  they  have 
health  and  beauty;  they  have  no  friends,  they  are  out- 
casts of  society,  they  are  of  your  making,  come  and  pay." 

Reviewing  history  for  its  recital  of  sexual  sins,  par- 
ticularly prostitution,  we  are  astonished  at  the  amount 


WHY  MEN  GO  WRONG  245 

of  literature  devoted  to  this  subject.  The  libertine,  pros- 
titute, mistress  and  affinity  have  been  ever  present  with 
man.  India,  Egypt,  Babylon,  Assyria,  Greece  and  Rome 
furnish  ancient  history  replete  with  the  part  played  by 
these  women  in  the  rise  and  fall  of  these  nations.  It  was 
not  until  in  modern  France  that  any  serious  considerations 
were  given  to  the  dangers  of  prostitution  and  the  attempts 
to  abolish  the  brothel  were  entirely  due  to  the  fearful 
destruction  of  the  health  and  life  of  even  the  innocent  at 
home  by  the  spread  of  venereal  diseases  on  account  of  the 
general  co-habitation  of  the  men  of  France  with  these  in- 
fected women. 

Prostitution  has  always  been  present  with  us.  Why? 
The  answer  is  quite  clear;  the  animal  nature  for  sexual 
intercourse  unrestrained  by  custom  and  philosophy  of  the 
various  ages  and  places.  It  is  useless  to  discuss  any 
moral  law  or  a  particular  sin  without  looking  to  man  past 
and  present,  his  birth,  beliefs  and  reasons  for  his  conduct. 
Let  us  not  criticise  others  who  have  lived  in  a  darker  age 
committing  acts  repulsive  to  our  day,  for  history  shows 
that  many  of  the  ancients  while  practicing  idolatry  and 
strange  customs  were  far  superior  to  some  of  our  intelli- 
gent American  men.  These  same  heathen  would  shudder 
at  the  sight  of  some  of  the  modern  sexual  sins  and  hor- 
rible deeds  practiced  by  those  living  on  vice  to-day. 

Rabbi  Yochanan  plaintively  recorded,  "  I  remember  a 
time  when  a  young  man  and  a  young  woman  sixteen  and 
seventeen  years  of  age  could  walk  in  the  streets  and  no 
harm  would  come  of  it." 

In  describing  the  Hundred  Gates  of  Paradise  the  Per- 
sian writer  says  of  gate  the  sixty-ninth,  "  We  believers 


246  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

beware  of  any  intercourse  with  a  courtesan  or  unchaste 
woman,  also  of  voluntary  degradation  and  adultery." 

Gate  the  seventy-fourth,  "  for  when  the  wife  of  a 
stranger  has  been  visited  by  a  strange  man,  she  becomes 
accursed  to  her  husband;  to  put  such  a  woman  to  death 
is  more  meritorious  than  slaying  a  beast  of  prey." 

In  Hindoo  literature  we  find,  "  Let  the  woman  who 
approaches  a  stranger  be  regarded  as  a  spirit  of  hell." 

These  few  quotations  from  ancient  literature  show  us 
that  our  problem  of  combating  the  social  evil  is  not  a  new 
one.  The  question  before  us  is  how  we  may  best  deal 
with  the  evil  tendencies  and  social  customs  of  the  present 
time.  I  shall  conclude  by  mentioning  some  of  the  factors 
which  produce  this  evil.  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  we 
will  accomplish  but  a  small  part  of  the  task  before  us  if 
we  close  up  all  the  existing  houses  of  prostitution  if  we 
do  not  deal  effectively  with  the  causes  of  prostitution  open 
or  clandestine  as  mentioned  hereafter. 

Sex  stimulations :  Attractions  of  women,  alcohol,  food, 
sedentary  life,  evil  companions,  etc. 

Explanations  of  married  men  as  to  why  they  visit  the 
prostitute : 

1.  Unfaithfulness  of  wife. 
£.  Illness  of  wife. 

3.  Unwillingness  of  wife  to  have  children. 

4.  Unhappy  home  relations,  as  temper,  unattractive- 
ness,  late  rising,  poor  cooking,  card  playing,  extravagance, 
absence  from  home,  etc.,  on  the  wife's  part. 

5.  Foreigners  who  have  left  their  wives  in  Europe. 

6.  Perversion.      (These  men  deny  this.) 


WHY  MEN  GO  WRONG  247 

Most  boys  and  young  men  are  influenced  to  go  wrong 

by: 

I.  Parentage;  inherited  tendencies  to  sin. 
£.  Poor  home  surroundings. 

3.  Ignorance  of  sex  hygiene. 

4.  Belief  that  sexual  intercourse  is  essential  for  health. 
Some  fathers  assist  their  sons  to  sin. 

5.  Desire  to  see  sights  and  to  be  like  other  boys. 

6.  Habit  formation. 

7.  Sex-pull  without  restraint. 

8.  Late  age  of  marriage  on  account  of  high  cost  of  liv- 
ing, or  cost  of  high  living. 

9.  Seduction  by  married  women ;  many  of  these  women 
exert  a  powerful  influence  over  boys  from  fifteen  years  of 
age  up. 

10.  Laxity  of  social  customs ;  boys  see  that  men   can 
freely  indulge,  are  not  censured  or  quickly  forgiven. 

II.  Burlesque  shows. 

12.  Indecent  literature  and  pictures. 

13.  Some  abnormal  condition  of  sex  organs. 

14.  Repugnance  to  work. 

I  am  firmly  convinced  that  many  more  men  and  women 
fall  through  the  use  of  alcohol  than  from  any  other 
cause.  It  is  a  very  powerful  sex  stimulant  and  coincident 
with  stimulation  it  diminishes  the  power  of  restraint.  The 
evil  produced  by  alcohol  is  as  great  among  the  better 
classes  of  society,  I  truly  believe  much  more  so,  than  in 
the  poorer  ones.  The  saloon  is  the  poor  man's  club.  Re- 
move liquor  from  the  clubs,  midnight  suppers  and  many  of 
the  card-parties  and  most  of  these  would  vanish  immedi- 


248  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

ately.  Forbid  the  women  to  drink  in  public  places  and 
we  would  do  more  for  the  good  of  this  nation  than  by 
millions  spent  for  public  defense  or  religious  teachings. 
It  is  in  these  places  that  thousands  of  men  and  women 
first  buy  tickets  on  the  railway  of  sexual  perdition. 

As  to  the  pulpit,  I  have  much  respect  for  the  good  that 
is  being  done  by  the  clergy  and  believe  that  a  united  stand 
by  the  church  can  defeat  any  system  of  organized  vice  at 
any  time  and  place.  But  I  am  ashamed  of  those  who  call 
themselves  servants  of  the  Lord,  who  have  not  real  cour- 
age. Our  city  churches  are  largely  controlled  by  and  the 
voice  of  the  pulpit  made  pleasing  to  those  in  the  pews 
who  must  not  be  injured.  In  many  cases  the  apathy  is 
one  due  to  protection  of  the  prominent  man  who  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  evil  in  some  way.  Still  prayers  are  offered 
up  for  the  Lord  to  save  the  boys  and  girls  by  those 
preachers  who  are  afraid  to  come  out  and  fight  the  devil 
and  his  agents. 

There  is  a  too  general  weakness  of  popular  support  in 
fighting  vice.  There  is  too  much  procrastination  in  the 
administration  of  justice. 

If  it  be  pleasant  to  look  on,  stalled  in  the  packed  serai, 
Does  not  the  Young  Man  try  Its  temper  and  pace  ere  he  buy  ? 
If  She  be  pleasant  to  look  on,  what  does  the  Young  Man  say? 
"  Lo !     She  is  pleasant  to  look  on,  give  Her  to  me  to-day !  " 

Kipling  —  Maxim  of  Hafiz. 

For  if  I  sinned  and  fell,  where  lies  the  Gain 
Of  knowledge?     Would  it  ease  you  of  your  Pain 
To  know  the  tangled  Threads  of  Revenue, 
I   ravel  deeper  in  a  hopeless  skein? 


WHY  MEN  GO  WRONG  249 

"  Who  hath  not  Prudence,"  What  was  it  I  said, 
Of  Her  who  paints  Her  Eyes  and  tires  Her  Head. 
And  gibes  and  mocks  the  People  in  the  Street 
And  fawns  upon  them  for  Her  thriftless  Bread? 
Accursed  is  She  of  Eve's  daughter, —  she 
Hath  cast  off  Prudence  and  Her  End  shall  be 
Destruction****Brethren,  of  your  Bounty  grant 
Some  portion  of  your  daily  Bread  to  Me. 

—  From  the  Rubaiyat  of  Omar  Kal'vin. 

Laying  aside  all  traditional  views  of  the  Garden  of 
Eden  and  Adam's  fall,  with  the  theological  dissensions 
regarding  Adam's  sin  affecting  all,  what  can  we  say  as  to 
our  actual  sin  to-day?  Our  reasoning  has  been  such  that 
we  can  conclude  that  the  man  with  a  healthy  body  is  a 
responsible  being  and  when  in  a  normal  state  can  will  to 
do  or  not  to  do  a  thing. 

It  naturally  follows  that  a  disordered  body  will  produce 
an  unreasonable  mind,  but  as  it  is  impossible  for  any  one 
to  tell  at  just  what  age  the  irresponsible  child  becomes  a 
responsible  youth  or  man,  just  as  difficult  is  it  to  say  that 
this  or  that  man  is  sane  or  not  and  is  accountable  for 
certain  actions.  As  the  good  of  the  community  is  above 
that  of  the  individual  so  must  the  community  or  society  in 
turn  to  a  great  extent  be  responsible  for  the  individual. 
In  conclusion  I  would  say  that  one  of  our  greatest  sins 
this  day  in  the  disobedience  of  the  moral  laws,  is  our  failure 
to  observe  the  eleventh  commandment;  the  sin  of  selfish- 
ness is  the  modern  sin,  and  man  must  know  that  we  in- 
dividually and  collectively  are  responsible  for  the  fall  of 
the  sinner  and  to  a  large  extent  for  their  remaining  fallen. 
We  are  our  brother's  keeper. 


WHO  IS  RESPONSIBLE? 

SOME  one  has  recently  said :  "  The's  a  lot  o'  folks 
nowadays  who  take  so  much  comfort  in  what  a  grand 
lot  of  ancestors  they've  had  that  they  don't  qualify 
to  be  ancestors  themselves." 

In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  considered  many 
phases  of  this  important  subject.  We  first  studied  life, 
its  many  manifestations  in  plants  and  animals  and  finally 
the  changeable  nature  of  man.  As  we  look  at  the  great 
cosmopolitan  mass  of  humanity  in  our  large  cities,  as  we 
read  the  daily  papers  which  record  so  much  of  murder, 
theft,  arson,  treason,  graft,  malice,  greed,  hatred,  avarice, 
jealousy  and  revenge,  we  are  compelled  to  ask:  "  Who  is 
responsible?  " 

To  combat  these  perverse  attributes  of  man,  many 
forces  for  good,  dispensing  charity,  love,  mercy  and  for- 
giveness, are  continually  at  work  to  prevent  the  pendu- 
lum from  swinging  too  far  toward  individual,  family,  and 
state  degeneration.  For  all  things  good  or  bad,  there  are 
their  opposites.  Nature  must  compensate  the  small  ani- 
mal with  speed,  and  often  the  weak  may  change  the  color 
of  its  coat  to  correspond  to  the  color  of  the  plants  in  which 
they  move. 

"  Think,  O  gentle  reader,  what  you  might  have  been  if 
your  ancestors  had  not  been  so  brutalized  and  demoralized. 
Such  is  one  of  the  absurd  lengths  to  which  the  study  of 
plant  metaphor  and  of  biometrics  carries  its  disciples. 
Biometrical  philosophy,  as  exemplified  by  Prof.  Karl  Pear- 

250 


WHO  IS  RESPONSIBLE?  251 

son,  asks :  '  What  reason  is  there  for  demanding  a  special 
evolution  for  man's  mental  and  moral  side?  '  No  reason, 
if  we  regard  man  as  analogous  to  a  plant,  or  even  to  a 
'  horse,  a  greyhound,  or  a  water  flea,'  or  if  we  can  settle 
the  question  of  his  evolution  by  the  computation  of  tables 
of  statistics.  With  these  biometrical  gentlemen,  heredity 
is  everything,  environment  and  education  futile,  except 
with  selected  stock.  While  acknowledging  that  the  Fagins 
of  London  can  train  criminals  and  thieves,  they  deny 
philanthropists  can  evolve  useful  citizens  from  unpromis- 
ing material.  Yet  of  the  castaways  in  Doctor  Bamado's 
institution,  98  per  cent,  became  respectable  citizens,  while 
a  similar  result  (97  per  cent.)  has  been  obtained  in  the 
city  of  Glasgow." —  Dr.  C.  E.  NammacJc. 

Having  studied  the  various  causes  which  alter  the  de- 
velopment of  a  normal  life,  can  we  now  conscientiously 
say  that  our  parents  are  to  blame  because  we  did  not  make 
a  greater  success  in  life?  Can  we  content  ourselves  and 
say  that  regardless  of  how  we  train  our  children,  they 
will  be  a  success  or  good  just  the  same? 

It  is  a  serious  problem.  The  world  may  be  getting 
better,  but  as  we  improve  we  see  more  faults,  just  as  the 
more  highly  developed  telescopes  are  able  to  see  more  of 
the  milky  way  and  "  discover "  bodies  which  have  been 
there  all  the  time.  As  we  improve,  we  wish  to  improve. 
Stability  demands  sobriety  and  faithful  service  means 
honesty.  If  we  lack  stability,  if  we  are  dishonest  and  if 
we  live  in  the  spirit  of  "  do  all  you  can,  when  you  can,  as 
thoroughly  as  you  can,"  society  must  answer  the  question : 
"  Who  is  responsible  ?  " 

We  have  now  three  solutions  for  man's  conduct  and  as 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

a  result  of  his  action,  the  condition  of  society:  (1)  man 
is  what  he  was  determined  to  be  by  his  parents ;  (2)  man 
is  the  product  of  heredity,  plus  the  important  influences 
of  his  surroundings ;  (3)  man  has  been  predestined  to  be 
what  he  must  become,  try  as  he  may,  he  cannot  change 
the  outcome. 

"  In  the  lottery  which  human  inheritance  at  present  is, 
good  qualities  will  commonly,  when  they  appear,  lack  the 
support  we  could  wish  for  them ;  but  when  this  is  true, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  much  of  the  evil  resulting  from 
this  can  often  be  remedied  by  good  social  conditions. 
That  is  to  say,  we  can  help  the  individual  to  leave  un- 
stimulated  the  bad  and  to  make  the  most  of  what  is  good. 
Thus,  in  a  sense,  he  may  actually  choose  his  ancestors. 
Instead  of  doing  this,  however,  I  fear  we  often  do  the 
reverse,  and  especially  is  this  true  when  men  have  to  appeal 
to  the  multitude  instead  of  to  their  peers." — Professor 
Cockerall  in  "  The  Biologist's  Problem." 

Were  we  predestined  to  be  this  or  that  in  a  strict  way, 
then  any  reasonable  man  would  conclude  that,  try  as  he 
might,  he  could  influence  his  own  character  no  more  than 
he  could  change  the  movement  of  the  tides  or  the  time  of 
the  eclipse.  Be  it  true  or  not  as  Emerson  said :  "  What- 
ever is,  is  right,"  the  most  of  us  will  consider  the  future  a 
sealed  book  and  endeavor  to  influence  mind  and  matter  as 
best  we  are  able.  If  we  are  defeated  in  the  end  it  will 
not  be  because  we  had  to  accept  fate  without  a  murmur. 

Having  cast  aside  the  belief  of  "  convicted  before  birth, 
we  are  face  to  face  with  the  only  two  forces  which  can 
influence  man:  heredity  and  environment.  The  study  of 
heredity,  like  immunity  to  certain  diseases,  involves  many 


WHO  IS  RESPONSIBLE?  253 

factors.  The  history  of  man  is  recorded  by  the  deeds  he 
has  performed.  Many  scientists  can  only  see  man  through 
the  one  field  glass  —  inheritance  —  and  that  at  a  distance 
without  a  range-finder,  without  any  regard  to  teaching, 
training,  environment  or  .external  influence  of  any  kind. 

The  fact  that  children  are  said  to  inherit  a  criminal 
nature,  that  alcoholism  in  the  parent  may  change  to  in- 
sanity in  the  child  would  show  that  no  law  of  inheritance 
for  conduct  is  obeyed.  All  the  victims  except  many  of 
the  insane  and  other  segregated  defectives  live  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  inebriety.  Who  can  tell  the  surroundings  of 
many  of  those  who  have  become  insane?  Drunkards  as  a 
class  become  paupers,  that  is  as  far  as  the  recorded  cases 
are  studied,  and  the  result  is  that  they  and  their  children 
are  poorly  fed,  poorly  clothed  and  not  educated.  They 
live  in  an  atmosphere  of  very  bad  hygienic  surroundings 
with  little  thought  of  morality  and  in  so  many  of  these 
recorded  cases  they  are  compelled  to  do  without  medical 
attention  on  account  of  ignorance  and  poverty,  hence  the 
great  death  rate  from  inanition,  etc.  The  great  wonder 
is  that  society  is  not  worse  than  it  is.  Certainly,  in  many 
an  instance  man  controls  his  spirit  of  revenge,  even  when 
severely  persecuted  by  oppression. 

"  Blood  will  tell "  and  similar  expressions  have  done 
much  to  produce  a  quite  general  opinion  that  children 
will  always  be  like  their  parents.  Careful  study  and  good 
judgment  is  overcoming  this  fear  that  the  child  might  go 
bad  when  the  adoption  of  children  of  unknown  parentage 
is  considered.  As  already  stated  birth  plays  an  important 
part,  but  opportunity  plays  a  greater.  We  are  prone  to 
remember  the  daughter  of  a  clergyman  who  goes  wrong, 


354  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

or  the  sad  case  of  an  adopted  boy  not  turning  out  right. 
But  I  challenge  any  investigator  to  show  that  where  a 
perfectly  healthy  child  has  been  adopted  into  a  good  fam- 
ily, given  a  proper  training  in  an  average  community, 
that  he  has  not  become  as  good  a  citizen  as  the  average 
son  of  the  average  parent.  I  do  not  permit  a  considera- 
tion of  exceptions,  for  if  such  should  be  studied,  think  of 
the  thousands  of  children  of  good  parents,  with  good 
homes,  good  education,  who  have  gone  entirely  wrong.  No 
child  should  be  adopted  until  a  careful  examination  is 
made  by  a  physician  to  determine  whether  there  is  any 
evidence  of  tuberculosis,  syphilis,  low  mentality,  deformi- 
ties, etc. 

Can  the  investigations  of  any  man  lead  you  to  believe 
that  the  education  and  influence  of  our  civilization  taught 
to  the  Indian  of  the  Carlisle  School  is  not  accomplishing 
the  results  desired?  Why  do  not  all  of  them  break  loose 
and  murder  many?  Will  their  offspring  revert  to  that 
of  Tecumseh?  Why  is  it  that  the  German  who  drinks 
beer  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave  does  not  show  as  many 
drunken  criminals  as  his  English  and  American  cousins 
who  are  taught  to  despise  drink,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty 
to  thirty  may  first  partake  of  the  same?  The  explana- 
tion of  many  to-day  is  that  alcoholism  is  due  to  mixed 
drinks,  and  that  distilled  liquors  should  not  be  permitted. 
But  even  the  German  must  suffer  as  a  result  of  his  beer 
since  the  German  Emperor  himself  has  set  the  good  ex- 
ample of  giving  up  the  time  honored  national  drink. 

In  the  June,  1913,  Everybody's,  Dr.  Sleyster  states  that 
in  a  study  of  592  men  in  a  hospital  for  Criminal  Insane,  he 
found  that  217  were  the  sons  of  drunkards ;  311  drank  to 


WHO  IS  RESPONSIBLE?  i 

excess ;  only  57  were  abstainers,  and  384  spent  their  e\ 
ings  in  saloons,  at  cheap  shows  or  on  the  streets.  L 
study  of  269  murderers  he  found  that  alcohol  was  used 
excess  by  41.5  per  cent.,  while  but  12.6  per  cent,  were 
stainers.  Nearly  half  were  under  the  influence  of  alec 
when  the  crime  was  committed,  and  27.9  per  cent.  ha< 
history  of  previous  arrest  for  drunkenness. 

In  the  same  discussion  on  rum,  Louis  G.  Copes  sa 
"  It  is  said  that  liquor  ruins  homes,  lives,  souls,  hea 

(morals,  and  what  not.  There  is  not  a  foundation  in  f 
to  this  assertion.  Liquor  does  nothing  of  the  sort.  W 
causes  all  the  trouble  is  the  abuse  of  it.  The  abuse 
liquor  may  be  and  probably  is,  the  root  of  practically 
of  man's  iniquity ;  but  the  temperate  use  of  it,  like  the  t 
perate  use  of  all  things  made  to  use,  is  utterly  beyond  i 
above  censure." 

These  two  opinions  show  quite  conclusively  that  tli 
are  two  factors  in  the  production  of  alcoholism,  and 
vices   and  crimes  which  result  from  its   abuse.     We  < 
cover  man's  weakness  through  inheritance  and  a  lack 
resistance  peculiar  to  each  individual. 

It  naturally  follows  that  any  attempt  to  improve  soci 
and  produce  a  more  healthy  race  of  parents  must  t 
into  account  the  individual  differences  and  how  the  vari 
i         environmental  influences  may  manifest  their  effect  u] 
'Deer  I     mankind.     After  which  observations  we  must   deterrr 
what  things  may  be  permitted  and  what  must  be  forbidi 
in  working  out  Church  and  social  problems.     No  stt 
of  the  effect  of  alcohol,  for  example,  would  be  of  va 
unless  we  had  a  knowledge  of  how  many  persons  dri 
moderately  and  how  many  drank  to  excess.     How  mi 


256  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

of  each  of  these  classes  were  social  and  racial  offenders, 
and  why  each  of  these  so  offended.  Our  statistics  con- 
cerning the  number  of  deaths  which  are  due  to  the  use  of 
alcohol  are  of  no  value  because  in  nearly  every  instance 
where  alcohol  has  been  a  predisposing  cause  of  the  disease 
from  which  the  person  died,  the  cause  of  the  death  is 
given  as  some  condition  of  the  heart,  liver,  kidneys,  blood- 
vessels or  brain. 

In  the  same  way  we  fail  to  observe  many  conditions 
produced  by  environment ;  all  is  blamed  on  heredity. 
Many  nervous  children  are  so  on  account  of  their  associa- 
tion with  hysterical  parents.  In  the  homes  of  the  de- 
generate, neurotic  and  inebriate,  there  is  continual  strife, 
and  how  could  the  offspring,  no  matter  how  well  developed 
in  body  and  mind  at  birth,  become  other  than  like  their 
parents  in  such  environment.  We  may  have  epilepsy,  in- 
sanity, drunkenness,  in  fact  any  form  of  crime  where  there 
is  no  ancestral  history  of  same.  This  is  what  we  see  so 
frequently  among  the  better  classes ;  these  are  not  re- 
ported to  the  investigators,  who  collect  the  statistics  for  us. 

We  know  at  the  present  time  the  many  avenues  by  which 
we  may  acquire  such  diseases  as  tuberculosis,  etc.,  and  as 
alcoholism  is  a  common  affliction  among  the  total  number 
of  people,  why  cannot  such  men,  when  placed  in  certain  en- 
vironments, acquire  some  form  of  degeneracy?  Why  do 
we  not  collect  the  number  of  cases  of  race  suicide,  of  in- 
digestion, men  with  voracious  appetites  and  explain  the 
conditions  as  due  to  inheritance? 

The  opium  habit  is  easily  acquired,  should  the  oppor- 
tunity be  present,  beginning  as  a  sense  of  comfort  from  its 
use  as  a  medicine,  or  for  a  little  experience,  until  at  last 


WHO  IS  RESPONSIBLE?  257 

it  is  impossible  to  destroy  the  habit.  The  country  boy 
may  appear  perfect  to  his  mother  and  best  girl,  but  let 
him  enter  the  city  with  its  many  entanglements,  its  attrac- 
tive avenues  of  vice,  and  the  same  boy  who  may  have  the 
misfortune  to  fall  from  grace,  might  have  become  a  pillar 
in  his  home  country  church. 

Observers  quite  agree  that  but  a  very  small  per  cent, 
of  prostitutes  are  drawn  into  their  course  of  life  by  sexual 
appetite  alone,  that  most  others  are  the  victims  of  vanity 
and  idleness.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  sus- 
ceptibility to  temptations  among  men  and  women  is  a 
symptom  and  therefore  unstable.  Whenever  great  wealth 
and  luxury  exist  side  by  side  with  inferior  intelligence  the 
first  sign  of  decadence  appears  in  the  resurgence  of  the 
primitive  instincts  of  sense  repletion,  as  sexual  gratifica- 
tion, etc. 

Probably  nothing  is  so  destructive  to  good  parentage 
and  prevents  healthy  children  as  venereal  disease.  We 
can  place  a  large  part  of  the  blame  of  venereal  disease 
upon  ignorance.  No  intelligent  man  or  woman  would 
knowingly  infect  any  one.  Education  of  the  people  is 
absolutely  necessary.  Sex  physiology  must  be  properly 
taught  to  our  boys  and  girls,  preferably  by  their  parents. 
The  good  of  society  frequently  demands  the  restraint  of 
the  individual.  Many  innocent  are  afflicted  —  innocent 
wives,  innocent  husbands  and  innocent  children.  I  would 
emphasize  the  importance  of  marriage  of  healthy  persons 
for  the  following  reasons : 

1.  The  child  has  a  right  to  be  born  healthy. 

2.  There  would  be  fewer  divorces,  because  unhealthy 


258  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

husbands  and  wives  lead  to  unfaithfulness  and  deser- 
tion. 

3.  Venereal  disease  is  the  cause  of  30  per  cent,  of  the 
blindness  occurring  in  young  children ;  it  is  the  cause 
of  from  50  per  cent,  to  60  per  cent,  of  the  operations 
upon  the  pelvic  organs  of  women ;  it  is  the  cause  of 
at  least  one-half  of  the  sterility  occurring  in  man  and 
much  in  women.     It  is  the  cause  of  a  very  large  per- 
centage of  nervous  diseases  in  the  adult. 

4.  Our  race  is  being  multiplied  from  the  lower  classes  of 
society. 

5.  Our  children  will  be  compelled  to  care  for  many  of 
the  children  of  our  present  insane,  epileptics,  etc. 

We  examine  young  men  rigidly  for  military  service  "  to 
kill  " ;  we  do  not  care  how  future  parents  are  diseased. 
The  agricultural  departments  of  the  various  states  destroy 
trees,  plants,  and  animals  which  are  injurious  to  other  of 
their  kind.  The  same  departments  spend  much  time, 
energy  and  money  to  properly  help  the  farmer;  but  how 
about  the  "  boll  weevils  "  and  "  yellows  "  of  society?  The 
good  of  society  is  paramount  to  the  rights  of  the  individ- 
ual. The  young  woman  must  learn  that  a  man  may  hon- 
estly repent  of  his  "  wild  oats,"  but  they  may  be  still  grow- 
ing. Repentance  and  prayer  do  not  cure  physical  ills. 
They  are  of  value,  but  physical  ills  must  be  cured  by  phys- 
ical means. 

"  No  law  absolutely  suppresses  crime ;  there  is,  however, 
an  educational  factor  in  every  law  that  is  placed  upon  the 
statute  books,  whether  that  law  is  properly  enforced  or 
not.  No  man,  unless  he  is  an  imbecile,  is  so  ignorant  that 


WHO  IS  RESPONSIBLE?  259 

he  does  not  know  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  ten 
commandments.  Yet  would  any  man  say  that  the  laws 
embodied  in  the  decalogue  are  not  right,  or  that  they 
should  be  abolished  because  they  are  often  broken  ?  There 
is  no  class  of  persons  so  anxious  to  marry  as  those  afflicted 
with  tuberculosis.  The  cause  of  this  anxiety  I  will  leave 
with  you  to  explain." —  Dr.  Burr. 

Shall  mental  and  moral  teaching  cease  in  order  that  we 
may  more  fully  show  that  the  "  laws  of  heredity  "  are  true 
for  succeeding  generations?  We  are  told  that  a  muta- 
tion occurs  when  one  species  is  formed  from  another.  Do 
we  forget  the  adjustment  of  man  to  light,  heat,  etc.? 
Know  we  not  the  incorporation  or  transformation  of  the 
inorganic  into  organic  and  back  to  inorganic  in  the  metabo- 
lic changes  of  our  body?  The  irritation  of  the  live  tis- 
sues producing  again  dead  substances.  In  all  cases  energy 
is  transformed.  In  man  we  see  the  various  products  of 
"  force "  dissimilarly  arranged,  giving  us  at  one  time 
genius,  at  another  power,  ad  infinitum. 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  thus  described  her  training  by 
her  Aunt  Harriet,  according  to  Miss  Ida  Tarbell :  "  My 
Aunt  Harriet  was  no  common  character.  According  to 
her  views  little  girls  were  taught  to  move  very  gently,  to 
speak  softly  and  prettily,  to  say  '  Yes,  ma'am,'  and  '  No, 
ma'am,'  never  to  tear  their  clothes ;  to  sew  and  to  knit  at 
regular  hours,  to  go  to  church  on  Sunday  and  to  make  all 
responses,  and  to  come  home  and  be  catechised.  Along 
with  the  catechism  went  the  reading  of  good  books.  A  girl 
trained  like  this  took  to  books  like  ducks  to  water." 

In  a  review  of  the  teaching  in  our  large  seminaries  by 
Harold  Bolce  we  find :  "  Young  women  are  coming  out 


260  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

of  colleges  believing  that  it  is  absurd  for  humanity  to 
stake  its  hope  of  salvation  on  much  of  what  the  Christian 
world  has  accepted  as  inspired  writing.  The  University 
of  Michigan,  for  example,  declares  that  the  books  of  the 
Bible  are  myth  and  legend,  in  the  form  of  epos,  hero-sage, 
fable,  proverb,  precept,  folk-lore,  primitive  custom,  clan 
and  domestic  law,  and  rhapsody.  It  is  further  set  forth 
that  these  are  of  dubious  origin.  At  Chicago  and  Cali- 
fornia it  is  contended  that,  to  the  scientific  mind,  there  is 
no  historic  certainty  that  4  Jesus  ever  lived,'  and  that  no 
such  record  (which  is  known  to  us  only  through  tradition) 
is  the  basis  of  living  faith.  Unmistakably  the  colleges 
that  teach  women,  as  the  colleges  that  teach  men,  are  ar- 
rayed as  an  academic  army  against  the  orthodox  interpre- 
tations of  Holy  Writ." 

Paul  Van  Dyke,  of  Princeton,  says  of  those  entering  the 
large  colleges :  "  Boys  from  high  schools  carry  off  honors 
out  of  all  proportions  to  their  numbers.  Boys  from  the 
Social  Registers  in  Harvard,  Yale  and  Princeton,  show  a 
far  lower  average  in  ability  or  willingness;  only  one  of 
166  of  those  with  the  best  chance  took  an  honor  in  the 
first  class." 

What  is  our  duty?  These  students  have  doubtless  con- 
vinced the  unprejudiced  mind  that  "  man  is  his  brother's 
keeper."  We  form  one  great  body  of  communists,  in  that 
we  should  work  for  each  other's  good.  Men  are  but  units 
making  up  a  mighty  whole,  resulting  from  many  forces 
working  from  within  and  without.  I  grant  that  the  ex- 
tent of  man's  will  to  do  or  not  to  do  a  thing,  individually, 
is  largely  what  society  determines ;  on  the  side  of  good  we 
need  and  must  develop  the  "  Big  Brother  "  or  the  "  Large 


WHO  IS  RESPONSIBLE?  261 

Sister." 

Just  as  long  as  the  public  demands  that  the  minds  of 
the  youth  be  filled  with  books  at  $1.08  while  many  of  the 
best  masterpieces  can  be  purchased  in  better  binding  for 
25  cents,  will  the  parent  who  permits  such  education  be 
training  the  youth  in  the  wrong  direction. 

The  problem  of  the  future  must  be  how  far  can  the 
State  interfere  with  man's  license  to  do  as  he  pleases  in 
order  that  he  may  not  interfere  with  the  rights  of  others. 
We  forbid  children  to  play  with  matches  to  prevent  fires. 
We  quarantine  the  healthy  along  with  the  diseased  to  pre- 
vent the  spread  of  the  disease.  We  restrain  the  insane; 
we  are  segregating  the  feeble-minded  and  we  remove  the 
drunkard  from  the  streets.  Since  we  punish  drunkenness 
and  try  the  drunken  murderer  for  his  crime,  should  we 
not  forbid  alcohol  to  those  who  become  intoxicated? 
Should  we  not  prevent  the  syphilitic  from  eating  in  public 
places  and  deny  him  the  privilege  of  marriage  until  cured? 
We  forbid  the  tubercular  teacher  from  teaching,  but  should 
she  be  allowed  to  marry,  procreate  and  nurse  her  children  ? 
These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  questions  which  we  must 
answer  satisfactorily. 

Improve  society  in  each  city,  by  encouraging  earlier 
marriages ;  by  improving  the  conditions  of  the  servant 
girl;  by  taking  care  of  the  widowed  mother  who  is  com- 
pelled to  work  in  the  factory  to  support  her  children;  by 
increasing  the  wages  of  the  girls  behind  the  counters ;  by 
increasing  social  settlements ;  by  less  extravagant  forms  of 
living;  by  better  literature  for  the  youth;  by  less  wine 
parties  for  the  parents;  and  by  better  hygienic  condi- 
tions, as,  for  example,  good  wholesome  food,  fresh  air, 


262  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

and  much  water  internally  and  externally,  and,  last  but 
not  least,  let  us  have  a  few  more  old  fashioned  homes  where 
the  parents  themselves  are  at  home  some  of  the  evenings 
each  week.  A  curfew  for  many  parents  would  do  no  harm. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  say  that  teaching  and  training 
are  paramount  in  our  efforts  to  improve  our  posterity. 
We  can  and  must  make  for  the  best  in  regard  to  those 
things  which  can  be  transmitted  from  one  generation  to 
another,  but  if  for  any  reason  a  child  is  born  of  poor  and 
vicious  parents,  or  for  any  reason  the  child  goes  wrong, 
we  must  not  lay  all  the  blame  on  inheritance,  but  remem- 
ber that  the  work  of  the  Juvenile  Courts,  of  the  Reforma- 
tories, of  the  Salvation  Army,  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  or  the 
Y.  W.  C.  A.,  the  Parting  of  the  Ways,  Men's  Industrial 
Home,  and  other  similar  organizations  of  the  Protestant, 
Catholic,  and  Jewish  Churches,  is  doing  much  good.  Could 
we  place  all  the  blame  on  our  forefathers  and  the  things 
which  are  inherited,  what  would  be  the  value  of  any  of 
these  institutions  and  of  religion  itself?  True  philan- 
thropy consists  in  giving  time,  wealth,  and  power  to  all 
things  which  improve  social  conditions  so  that  each  suc- 
ceeding generation  will  be  better  every  way  than  the  pre- 
ceding one;  but  it  does  not  consist  in  producing  those 
conditions  to  relieve  which  much  is  later  given. 

We  are  individually  responsible  for  our  own  acts  in-so- 
far  as  we  are  able  to  prevent  them ;  we  are  partially  respon- 
sible for  what  our  children  become,  and  society  is  responsi- 
ble for  not  preventing  many  things  which  when  done  must 
be  punished.  Many  times,  try  as  we  will  to  do  certain 
things,  all  plans  fail  and  we  feel  like  expressing  it  as  I 
have  done  in  verse : 


WHO  IS  RESPONSIBLE?  265 


FATE 

Quite  oft  I  would  my  boat  direct, 
And  sail  the  stormy  seas, 
Alas,  does  Fate  my  sails  unfurl! 
So  heavy  is  the  breeze. 

I  stand  upon  the  rock  and  wait ; 
My  hope  of  life  has  fled. 
The  Gods  declare  my  final  fate; 
E'en  though  my  heart  hath  bled. 

Together  with  the  spark  of  life, 
The  germ  of  greatness  grows; 
They  both  are  planted  by  the  One 
Who   nations'   future   knows. 
•  •••••• 

If   in   your   body    seed   should   fall, 
To  make  a  name  renowned; 
Or  if  the  germ  should  money  be, 
So  you  in  wealth  abound, 

Do  not  yourself  laud  high  and  praise, 
For  you  are  but  a  man; 
It  happens  that  this  way  you  fill 
Your  place  in  God's  own  plan. 


APPENDIX 

HEREDITARY    INSANITY    A    DEFENSE 

THE  case  of  Mrs.  Leckwood  of  Minneapolis,  Minn., 
is  very  interesting  in  the  study  of  defectives.  A 
recent  editorial  says :  "  Those  who  take  little 
stock  in  eugenics,  or  scientific  mating  of  the  human  kind, 
need  only  read  the  newspaper  accounts  of  the  Leckwood 
murder  case.  Children  of  sisters  married  and  the  result  . 
has  been  two  generations  of  children  physically  or  men- 
tally defective  or  both.  A  child  of  tender  years  is  taken 
to  court  to  tell  through  her  years  of  poverty-stricken 
home  life,  the  abuse  of  the  father,  the  pitiful  infirmities 
of  the  mother.  Such  unions  are  high  treason  against 
humanity." 

The  attorney  of  Mrs.  Ida  Leckwood,  on  trial  for  the 
murder  of  her  daughter,  held  that  she  was  irresponsible 
when  she  committed  the  deed,  if  at  all,  as  he  would  prove 
by  the  testimony  of  the  alienists.  The  statements  of  the 
alienists  were  based  on  the  following: 

"  Heredity  transmission  through  three  generations  suf- 
fering from  various  forms  of  epilepsy." 

"  Inter-marriage  of  cousins,  her  mother  and  father 
being  cousins." 

Mrs.  Leckwood  was  found  not  guilty,  because  she  was 
insane  when  she  gave  the  poison  to  her  daughter.     This 
is  a  most  important  case,  not  only  to  the  jurist,  but  t 
society  at  large,  especially  to  those  interested  in  the  stud 
of  eugenics. 

264 


M.9 

* 


APPENDIX  265 

The  Supreme  Court  of  Mississippi  has  recently  said 
that  insanity  was  hereditary,  and  such  evidence  was  suffi- 
cient to  acquit  the  defendant  of  a  charge  of  assault  and 
battery  to  kill.  The  court  stated  that  at  one  time  it 
seemed  to  have  been  supposed  that  the  heredity  of  in- 
sanity must  be  proved  in  each  case  before  evidence  of 
insanity  among  blood  relatives  could  be  received.  But 
the  court  ventured  to  say  that  no  court  of  to-day  would 
hold  the  necessity  of  proving  insanity  hereditary.  This 
decision,  like  the  one  reported  some  time  ago,  from  Min- 
nesota, must  have  great  weight  in  future  trials,  and  con- 
sequently show  the  necessity  for  more  insane  asylums, — 
but  greater  still  a  practice  of  practical  eugenics. 

WHAT    EUGENICS    DOES    NOT    MEAN 

"  The  practice  of  eugenics  is  not  opposed  to  religion. 
It  reaches  out  over  religion  and  desires  to  promote  the 
cultivation  of  the  same  morality  and  ethics  that  true 
religion  should  teach.  It  transcends  all  religions.  It 
unites  all  religions  on  a  common  fighting  ground.  It 
should  draw  its  adherents  from  all  good  men  of  whatever 
religion,  from  all  men  who  desire  to  better  the  world,  to 
prevent  suffering  and  misery.  Eugenists  wish  to  make 
eugenics  a  part  of  religion  —  to  make  it  the  religion  of 
the  religions  of  the  future." — -Dr.  Myer  Solomon  in 
"  What  Eugenics  Does  Not  Mean." 

MODERN    WOMEN  MATERNITY 

"  The  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the  nervous 
organization  of  our  modern  women,  particularly  the  over 
educated  or  over  civilized  among  our  population,  are  so 


266  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

great  that  a  large  proportion  have  ceased  to  be  natural 
women.  This  condition  naturally  leads  to  the  conclusion 
that  at  least  half  of  the  society  women  are  nervously  unfit 
to  undergo  unnecessary  burdens  in  their  after  life,  and 
every  safeguard  must  be  employed  to  prevent  the  duties 
of  motherhood  from  producing  serious  and  perhaps  last- 
ing effects.  It  is  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception  at 
the  present  time  that  the  day  and  evening  of  the  city 
bred  girl  is  entirely  taken  up  with  fixed  engagements,  and 
no  time  is  left  for  rest  and  relaxation." —  Dr.  F.  S.  Newell. 
While  these  statements  may  be  very  strong,  yet  the  fact 
remains  that  the  woman  of  to-day  is  not  able  to  endure 
the  difficulties  incident  to  bringing  up  a  family  in  the  same 
way  as  did  our  mothers.  It  is  very  evident  that  our 
social  conditions  must  be  changed  in  such  a  way  that  the 
girl  can  be  better  fitted  for  motherhood ;  that  marriage 
may  be  entered  into  at  an  earlier  age  than  is  the  custom. 
After  the  birth  of  the  child  it  is  necessary  that  it  be 
nursed  by  the  mother.  Social  demands  must  not  be  such 
that  the  child  is  for  convenience  artificially  fed. 

EUGENIC    BELIEF CHARITY 

"  Eugenic  belief  extends  the  function  of  philanthropy  to 
future  generations.  It  renders  its  actions  more  prevail- 
ing than  hitherto,  by  dealing  with  families  and  societies  in 
their  entirety,  and  it  enforces  the  importance  of  the. mar- 
riage covenant  by  directing  serious  attention  to  the  prob- 
able quality  of  future  offspring.  It  strongly  forbids  all 
forms  of  sentimental  charity  that  are  harmful  to  the  race, 
while  it  greatly  seeks  opportunity  for  acts  of  personal 
kindness  as  some  equivalent  to  the  loss  of  what  it  forbids. 


APPENDIX  267 

It  brings  the  tie  of  kinship  into  prominence  and  strongly 
encourages  love  in  family  and  race.  In  brief,  eugenics  is 
a  virile  creed  full  of  hope,  and  appealing  to  many  of  the 
noblest  feelings  of  our  nature." —  Francis  Galton. 

CRIMINALS 

"  The  idea  that  some  individuals  are  immoral  because 
of  constitutional  defect  of  the  neural  organism  is  most 
repugnant,  as  it  seems  to  challenge  the  traditional  belief 
in  man's  free  will,  and  this  is  especially  true  of  those  un- 
familiar with  mental  diseases.  Yet  we  who  have  delin- 
quent individuals  within  our  care  and  custody  know  that 
there  are  persons  who  cannot  refrain  from  crime  because 
of  their  degenerate  organizations,  which  predispose  and 
impel  them  to  immoral  and  illegal  acts.  .  .  .  Why  should 
not  the  born  criminal  remain  in  prison  so  long  as  he  is 
dangerous  to  society?  We  do  not  release  the  violent  and 
dangerous  insane  from  hospitals  merely  because  they  have 
been  detained  there  a  number  of  years;  then  why  should 
we  release  the  instinctive  criminal  to  practice  his  criminal 
acts  upon  the  public?  We  quarantine  small-pox,  and  we 
exile  the  leper;  then  why  should  we  not  isolate  the  in- 
curable moral  defectives  who  disseminate  dangerous  moral 
contagion?" — Dr.  Paid  E.  Bowers. 

VALUE    OF    DISEASE    IN    CHARACTER    DEVELOPMENT 

"  We  must  be  convinced  that  the  relative  decrease  of 
any  stock  would  be  a  net  gain  or  loss.  Take  the  case  of 
epilepsy.  It  is  without  question  in  itself  a  very  serious 
defect.  But  can  we  be  absolutely  certain  that  the  dis- 
appearance of  all  epileptic  stocks  would  be  a  net  gain? 


268  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

At  present  we  know  so  little  with  regard  to  the  correlation 
of  one  such  character  with  others  that  we  are  ignorant 
concerning  the  full  effect  of  the  elimination  of  any  one 
character. 

"  To  take  another  example  —  let  us  consider  the  case 
of  tuberculosis.  Here  again  we  are  faced  with  the 
difficulty  that  we  do  not  know  in  the  least  what  the  net 
result  of  elimination  of  tuberculosis  stocks  would  be.  If 
all  the  tuberculosis  stocks  had  been  wiped  out  three  hun- 
dred years  ago,  many  eminent  men  to  whom  the  human 
race  is  deeply  indebted  would  never  have  been  born.  Of 
that  we  can  be  certain;  it  is  quite  beyond  our  powers, 
however,  to  weigh  in  the  balance  the  undoubtful  mental 
and  physical  suffering  and  the  material  loss,  due  to  the 
presence  of  a  pathological  stock  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
services  rendered  by  those  afflicted  with  this  defect  on  the 
other.  Until  we  can  make  this  calculation,  how  can  we 
advocate  measures  that  would  deliberately  tend  toward 
the  disappearance  of  the  tuberculosis?" — A.  M.  Carr- 
Saunders  in  the  Eugenics  Review. 

After  reading  the  above  I  thought  that  it  would  be 
very  easy  to  answer  the  doubts  in  the  mind  of  the  writer, 
but  after  more  deliberate  consideration  and  a  little  search 
along  the  line  of  the  existence  of  sin  that  good  may  re- 
sult, I  have  found  that  this  is  one  of  those  problems  that 
have  puzzled  philosophers  for  centuries.  Hence,  I  have 
decided  to  allow  the  readers  to  carefully  study  this  very 
important  question.  It  would  be  profitable  for  all  inter- 
ested to  read  carefully  Emerson's  essay  on  "  Compensa- 
tion "  before  arriving  at  a  conclusion.  I  will  say  that 
I  firmly  believe  that  we  should  endeavor  to  eliminate  all 


APPENDIX  269 

disease  as  rapidly  as  possible.  If  Benjamin  Franklin  had 
an  acute  mind  on  a  vegetable  diet  he  might  have  had  a  still 
better  mind  with  a  little  meat;  and  if  the  existence  of  tu- 
berculosis in  the  body  has  at  times  produced  a  good  mind, 
the  germs  from  that  same  individual  may  have  prevented 
by  early  death  the  development  of  still  greater  minds. 

EUGENICS:  BIOLOGICAL 

"  The  problem  of  eugenics  and  evolution  are  primarily 
biological,  but  can  be  approached  only  if  social  conditions 
allow  the  application  of  biological  methods."  .  .  .  "  I  can 
in  imagination  see  the  day  when  the  compilation  of  in- 
heritance data  for  each  citizen  will  be  compulsory,  and 
when  the  files  of  these  records  will  be  most  valued  of 
fell  state  documents ;  when  no  marriage  license  will  be 
issued  except  after  the  most  careful  searching  of  the  in- 
heritance; and  when  the  State  will  debar  from  marriage 
those  whose  children  will  be  a  burden  to  the  State.  The 
bearing  of  children  is,  of  course,  not  an  individual  right, 
but  a  social  privilege,  and  in  time  it  must  come  to  be  so 
recognized." —  Prof.  Maynard  Metcalf  in  "  Eugenics  and 
Euthenics." 

EUGENIC    LIMITS 

Prof.  Herbert  Miller,  in  the  "  Psychological  Limit  of 
Eugenics,"  says,  "  I  am  not  denying  a  great  deal  of  good 
in  this  movement,  but  too  little  attention  has  been  given 
to  either  psychology  or  sociology  by  the  eugenists,  and  un- 
justifiable conclusions  have  been  drawn.  ...  I  myself  am 
convinced  that  as  a  move  for  race  improvement,  the  equal 
suffrage  of  women,  with  the  eventual  consequent  assump- 


270  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

tion  of  intellectual  and  moral  responsibility  and  economic 
independence,  would  be  infinitely  more  valuable  than  all  the 
eugenic  laboratories  in  the  world.  We  should  use  all  the 
forces  of  science  in  dealing  with  pathological  conditions, 
but  an  attempt  at  artificial  selection  of  mental  and  moral 
characteristics  is  working  in  the  wrong  direction." 

An  editorial  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical 
Association  on  "  The  Limitations  of  Eugenics "  says : 
"  Let  us  therefore  hesitate  to  charge  all  defects  to 
heredity,  to  make  men  irresponsible,  to  hold  that  every- 
thing is  predetermined.  One  antidote  lies  in  '  euthenics  * 
or  the  science  of  uncontrollable  environment  in  the  appeal 
to  develop  the  unknown  possibilities  of  our  inheritance. 
Such  a  doctrine  brings  vigor  and  inspiration.  It  gives 
a  chance  for  self-discovery.  Responsibility  makes  men 
wrest  from  themselves  powers  which  otherwise  would  re- 
main latent.  Supposed  defective  inheritance  or  arrested 
development  is  sometimes  merely  the  expression  of  some 
inhibition  which  can  be  overcome  by  intelligent  control 
from  within  or  without.  '  To  most  of  us  heredity  has 
been  kind  —  kinder  than  we  know.' 9 

MARRIAGE    ADVICE 

Prof.  E.  G.  Conklin  says :  "  Giving  advice  regarding 
matrimony  is  proverbially  a  hazardous  performance.  .  .  . 
With  a  more  complete  knowledge  with  regard  to  the  in- 
heritance of  human  defects  than  we  now  possess,  at  least 
in  many  instances,  it  will  be  probably  possible  to  give 
such  advice  wisely;  but  apart  from  certain  bodily  pe- 
culiarities, he  would  be  a  bold  prophet  who  would  under- 
take to  predict  the  type  of  personality  which  might  be 


APPENDIX  271 

expected  in  the  children  of  the  given  union.  Some  very 
unpromising  stocks  have  brought  forth  wonderful 
products."  And  we  might  add  that  some  promising 
stocks  have  brought  forth  some  poor  products. 


"  Any  consideration  that  may  be  shown  the  confirmed 
criminal  by  society  should  be  regarded  as  entirely  gra- 
tuitous and  founded  purely  upon  humane  impulses,  which 
forbid  unnecessary  cruelty.  Maudlin  sentimentality  in 
behalf  of  a  degenerate's  possible  posterity,  which  would 
probably  rule  against  its  own  birth  had  it  any  choice  in 
the  matter,  should  weigh  but  little  in  the  balance  of  social 
welfare.  The  primordial  right  of  man  is  the  right  to  live. 
The  law  does  not  hesitate  to  execute  the  murderer,  despite 
the  fact  that  upon  the  average  he  is  of  all  criminals  the 
least  dangerous  to  society.  Liberty  is  a  right  of  man  which 
cannot  be  gainsaid,  yet  the  law  does  not  hesitate  to  im- 
prison for  life  on  occasion.  In  imprisonment  for  life  or 
capital  punishment  it  would  be  somewhat  difficult  to  see 
any  conservation  of  the  rights  of  the  criminal's  posterity 
or  of  his  sex  rights,  from  the  sentimentalist's  standpoint. 
Under  the  protection  of  society  against  the  criminal  so 
sentenced,  because  of  the  danger  of  escape,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  pardon  on  the  other." 

INFANT    MORTALITY 

In  fighting  against  the  causes  of  infant  mortality,  Dr. 
Saleeby  says :  "  Conditions  initiated  in  the  slums  and 
public  houses  by  some  social  workers  are  not  natural,  they 
are  hideously  unnatural. 


£72  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

"  Eugenists  of  the  extreme  school  forget  the  impor- 
tance of  nurture  before  birth,  of  prenatal  influences  due 
to  environment.  They  assume  that  it  is  simply  a  question 
of  heredity  from  birth,  when  it  has  been  proved  that  in- 
fections and  the  forces  of  malnutrition  have  been  playing 
on  the  child  for  months  before  birth.  The  nurture  of  the 
mother  is  therefore  just  as  important  as  if  the  child  had 
been  fed  on  gin  and  pickles  after  birth." 


A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL* 

IN  the  tables  which  follow  an  analysis  is  made  of  over 
500  prostitutes,  and  many  landladies,  in  such  a  way 
that  we  can  probably  account  for  their  choice  of  this 
life  and  reason  for  remaining  in  it.  It  is  quite  true  that 
many  girls  will  yield  for  the  first  time  to  a  married  man, 
because  they  know  he  will  seldom  tell,  and  they  are  not 
so  afraid  of  becoming  pregnant  by  such  men.  I  firmly 
believe  that  the  large  majority  of  houses  of  prostitution 
are  supported  by  married  men.  It  is  so  with  all  of  the 
high-priced  houses,  and  many  of  the  patrons  to  the 
cheaper  houses  are  married  foreigners,  whose  wives  are  in 
Europe.  Cut  out  the  married  men,  and  most  of  the  houses 
would  cease  to  exist.  In  some  of  the  tables  the  land- 
ladies are  included.  In  all  tables  there  are  some  who  did 
not  answer  that  particular  question. 

SEDUCER    MARRIED    OR    SINGLE 

Married 95         Single 250 

Adolescence,  or  the  period  of  sexual  development  is  full 
of  physiological  changes  with  the  incident  irritations  pro- 
duced by  these  changes.  This  irritability,  without  a 
knowledge  and  proper  restraint,  is  sure  to  bring  ill  re- 
sults. The  conscience  of  the  adolescent  who  has  not  be- 
come seared  from  sin  can  be  more  easily  awakened  than  in 

*  This  study  was  made  in  January,  1913.  In  1914  the  Morals 
Bureau  closed  all  of  the  remaining  houses  of  prostitution  in  Pittsburg. 

273 


274  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

later  years.  This  is  the  age  of  sex  companionship.  The 
natural  animal  nature  for  mating  is  at  its  height.  Wit- 
ness the  pairing  of  even  small  children  of  the  opposite  sex. 
The  table  of  age  seduction  shows  that  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  to  eighteen,  when  physiological  development  is  at 
its  height  and  parental  restraint  is  beginning  to  yield,  over 
one-half  of  the  girls  are  first  seduced. 

AGE    WHEN    SEDUCED 

Age  Age  Age 

12  . 4    17   118    22  to  25 12 

13 6    18   110    26  to  30 1 

14   17    19   69 

15   53    20   39    16  to  18 298 

16    75    21 16    All  other  ages .  217 

Over  one-half  the  prostitutes  entered  houses  between 
eighteen  and  twenty-one.  There  is  little  parental  re- 
straint, they  have  freely  indulged  in  sexual  intercourse, 
continually  frequent  the  cafes  and  hotels,  meet  those  of 
the  underworld,  and  are  impressed  by  their  life  of  ease, 
with  good  incomes  and  fancy  clothes,  after  which  the  last 
step  is  easy.  Certainly  these  two  tables  are  of  interest, 
and  should  be  of  much  value  to  parents,  the  church  and 
society. 

AGE    WHEN    ENTERED    UPON    PROSTITUTION 

Age  Age 

14  I  17  8 

15  1  19  44 

16  ...  2       18  to  21 257 


A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  EVIL      275 

Age  Age 

20   75    25  to  28 64 

21    113    29  to  35 15 

22  to  24 162  Other  ages 217 

It  will  be  noticed  that  after  the  age  of  twenty-four 
they  rapidly  leave  the  life.  They  are  less  attractive,  ill, 
married,  or  become  kept  women,  to  say  nothing  of  those 
completely  lost  to  the  world. 

PRESENT    AGE    OF    INMATES 


Age 
21    

1 

Age 
27   .  . 

43 

Age 
35  to 

36 

....    12 

22   

41 

28   .  . 

39 

39  to 

48 

6 

23   

73 

29   .  . 

28 

24   

..   .   89 

30   .  . 

32 

25   

....   57 

31  to 

32  

91 

22  to 

95 

260 

26   . 

.   40 

33  to 

34  . 

24 

Other 

acre 

;s  ..  .258 

The  cause  of  polygamy  and  polyandry  is  not  easy  to 
determine.  Does  polygamy  prevent  prostitution?  Many 
men  supporting  the  same  prostitutes,  is  certainly  a  form 
of  polyandry.  Polygamy  permits  more  mothers  and  more 
children.  Polygamy  permits  the  husband  to  cohabit  if 
one  or  more  of  his  wives  be  ill  or  incompatible. 

This  table  is  of  little  value,  except  to  show  that  many 
deserted  women,  who  have  led  a  loose  life  at  home,  drift 
into  prostitution.  Certainly  many  who  say  they  are 
single  have  been  married. 


276  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

MARRIED,    SINGLE    OR    WIDOW 

Married  or  divorced,  119     Single  .  .  .359     Widow  .  .  .84 

The  nature  of  woman  is  such  that  in  most  cases  the 
normal  instinct  is  such  that  they  desire  and  expect  to 
become  mothers.  So  strong  is  this  instinct  that  fre- 
quently the  woman  will  resort  to  sexual  intercourse  with 
man,  outside  of  wedlock,  in  order  that  she  may  become  a 
mother ;  this  being  the  only  reason  for  the  act. 

It  is  held  that  marriage  is  the  result  of  children,  rather 
than  that  children  are  the  result  of  marriage.  Every 
woman  has  an  inherited  right  to  become  a  mother.  While 
society  demands  that  wedlock  should  be  entered  into  for 
this  purpose,  yet  society  now  realizes  that  the  innocent 
child  born  outside  of  wedlock  should  not  suffer,  and  already 
several  States  have  enacted  laws  making  all  children  legiti- 
mate, in  that  every  child  has  a  right  to  inherit  property 
as  well  as  its  characteristics  from  both  parents. 

CHILDREN    LIVING    OR    DEAD 

None   406  2  dead 12 

1  living  .  ., 66  3  living  .  .  .  ., 4 

1  dead 50  4  living 1 

2  living 19  Total  who  had  children.  152 

This  table  includes  about  fifty  landladies,  many  of  whom 
were  prostitutes  before  owning  houses.  Other  things 
being  equal,  the  mother  of  the  illegitimate  child  will  seek 
prostitution  more  frequently  from  necessity  to  support 
her  child  than  will  the  girl  who  has  not  been  so  unfor- 
tunate. In  most  cases  the  stigma  can  be  no  worse,  from 


A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  EVIL      277 

the  girl's  viewpoint;  she  is  an  outcast.  Society  does  not 
properly  care  for  these  women.  The  grass  widow  with 
children  will  enter  prostitution  more  quickly  than  the  one 
without  children  to  support,  providing  she  was  unfaithful 
^in  her  marital  life.  Certainly  many  prostitutes  are  sup- 
porting children  who  are  in  the  homes  of  relatives,  friends, 
asylums,  etc. 

The  attempt  is  frequently  made  to  reduce  immediate 
and  contradictory  elements,  as  they  are  given  in  life,  to 
expressions  which  would  indicate  necessary  conditions. 

Lecky,  the  historian,  who  wrote  on  "  European  Morals 
Since  the  Beginning  of  the  Christian  Era,"  said :  "  The 
supreme  type  of  vice  is  at  the  same  time  the  most  efficient 
guardian  of  virtue."  Solon  established  brothels  in  Athens, 
Greece  and  Rome  and  encouraged  prostitution.  Dr. 
Woolsey,  believini  as  many  others  have  always  held,  that 
the  devil  is  bound  to  have  a  share  anyway,  advocated  that 
the  divorced  woman  should  not  be  allowed  to  marry,  and 
we  should  allow  the  recruits  for  prostitution  to  be  ob- 
tained from  this  class  of  women.  This,  he  said,  would  put 
the  devil  off  with  the  least.  Were  such  a  custom  decreed 
to  be  best  for  society,  witness  the  rush  to  the  marriage 
altar  and  the  great  haste  they  would  make  to  reach  Reno, 
with  the  financial  assistance  of  the  accommodating  hus- 
band, who  would,  he  well  knows,  reap  a  rich  reward  for 
his  valor  and  suffering.  Is  it  possible  that  this  Dr. 
Woolsey  is  the  discoverer  or  creator  of  our  "  cadets  "  of 
to-day?  Many  a  one  of  these  succeed  in  having  a  real  or 
false  marriage  performed,  only  later  to  have  his  "  wife  " 
enter  a  house  of  prostitution,  that  he  may  exist  as  a 
degraded  parasite  on  innocent  girls  and  society. 


278  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Let  me  ask  you  if  prostitution  is  a  safeguard  to  society? 
Would  the  unmarried  men  attack  the  women  in  the  streets 
if  there  were  no  houses  for  their  pleasure?  Common  sense 
says  that  they  would  not  do  so.  There  are  no  houses  in 
the  country  districts,  in  most  of  the  smaller  cities,  and  in 
many  of  the  large  cities.  Rape  on  woman  is  not  a  com- 
mon offense.  It  is  the  result  of  degeneracy,  generally 
seen  in  the  pervert.  Only  a  very  small  proportion  of  the 
men  from  the  districts  mentioned  come  to  the  cities  where 
houses  exist.  There  is  just  as  much  intercourse  in  large 
cities  outside  of  houses  of  prostitution  as  in  those  loca- 
tions where  they  do  not  exist.  Houses  of  prostitution  are 
supported  by  married  men.  Therefore  the  solution  be- 
comes still  a  greater  problem. 

We  have  very  carefully  questioned  a  large  number  of  the 
girls  who  state  that  low  wages  were  the  cause  of  their 
downfall.  The  prostitute  is  too  willing  to  give  a  hard 
luck  story  in  order  that  she  may  be  excused  for  her  life. 
Her  conscience  is  not  disturbed  by  frequent  visits  to  the 
Ananias  Club,  hence  she  often  forgets  the  truth.  Some 
of  the  girls  who  gave  a  low  wage  with  their  previous  occu- 
pation never  did  work  away  from  home.  At  least  one- 
fourth  of  our  girls  never  made  their  living  before.  I  be- 
lieve that  very  few  of  the  prostitutes  in  Pittsburgh  began 
the  life  on  account  of  poverty  alone.  Low  wages  is  a 
very  important  factor  in  producing  social  conditions  where 
the  parental  cares  and  home  influences  are  of  a  very  low 
order.  In  such  a  state  of  society,  many  a  girl  whose 
home  life  is  unpleasant,  whose  parents  if  alive  care  little 
for  the  girl  except  she  be  able  to  provide  a  few  dollars 
toward  her  own  and  probably  family  expenses  each  week, 


A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  EVIL      279 

will  easily  be  led  into  the  ways  of  the  frequenters  of  the 
cheap  cafes,  dance  halls,  etc.,  and  in  a  short  time  she  is 
adding  to  her  regular  earnings,  not  because  she  was  com- 
pelled to  continue  to  make  this  extra  money.  Whether 
she  will  become  an  inmate  of  a  house  is  determined  by  many 
factors,  as  companions,  home  ties,  alcoholism,  etc. 

Miss  A.,  twenty-three  years  of  age,  born  and  raised  in 
a  small  town  fifty  miles  from  Pittsburgh.  Father  had 
small  business.  Mother  dead.  Step-mother  not  very  kind 
to  girl,  who  gave  birth  to  illegitimate  child  two  years  ago. 
Was  allowed  to  go  to  Pittsburgh  and  work  in  store  as 
clerk  at  $6.00  a  week.  Boarded  at  Home  for  Christian 
Girls,  room  and  board  $4.50  a  week;  other  expenses  ex- 
ceeding small  balance.  To-day  she  is  earning  an  average 
of  $25.00  a  week  as  a  prostitute.  She  frequently  writes 
for  a  little  money  from  home,  saying  she  cannot  get  along 
on  $6.00  a  week.  (This  is  from  report  from  her  town.) 
She  says  she  is  sending  home  several  dollars  a  week  to  help 
support  child. 

The  report  shows  169  classed  as  servants,  which  in- 
cludes cooks,  maids,  etc.  These  are  largely  foreign  girls 
with  no  home  or  parents  in  this  country.  They  are  easily 
led  astray.  But  the  servant  girl  in  Pittsburgh  does  not 
need  to  enter  prostitution  to  support  herself,  or  even  her- 
self and  baby. 

PREVIOUS    OCCUPATION    AND    WAGES 

Waitress  from  $3  to  $7 50 

Factory  from  $2  to  $10 53 

Nurse  girl  from  $1.50  to  $4 10 

Servant  from  $1.50  to  $7 169 

Clerk  from  $3.00  to  $8 51 


280  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Cashier  from  $6  to  $12.50 3 

Canvasser  from  $4.00 , 1 

Laundry  from  $3.00  to  $6 14 

Actress,  from  $40.00 1 

Home 118 

Milliner  from  $6.00 3 

Seamstress  from  $3.00  to  $10.00 14 

Manicurist  from  $5.00 1 

Telephone  Operator  from  $3.50 5 

Chorus  girl  from  $10  to  $12 2 

Office  work  from  $2  to  $15 4 

Flower  girl  from  $4  to  $5 4 

Music  teacher 1 

Furmaker  $4.00 1 

Governess  $5.00 1 

REASON    FOR    ENTERING    HOUSE 

Seduced  and  motherhood 10 

Money  .  .1 90 

To  support  self 145 

To  support  baby 24 

To  support  parents 14 

To  support  brother  and  sister 4 

Had  to  .  .  .  ., 1 

111  health 9 

Discouraged  and  no  work 36 

No  particular  reason , 34 

Always  bad    15 

Home  troubles 8 

No  place  to  go 27 

Deserted  by  husband 7 


A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  EVIL      281 

We  must  not  forget  in  explaining  why  girls  enter  prosti- 
tution that  we  are  prone  to  think  only  of  the  girl  who  is 
actually  an  inmate  of  a  house.  These  few  hundreds  are 
but  a  small  proportion  of  the  girls  who  are  continually 
engaged  in  prostitution.  The  many  hundreds  who  work 
as  stenographers,  clerks,  manicurists,  etc.,  during  the  day, 
and  have  their  friends  for  profit  at  night,  the  kept  woman 
with  her  pleasant  apartments  with  plenty  of  money  to 
spend,  all  these  women  are  prostitutes  as  surely  as  the 
inmates  of  a  house.  Very  often  the  visitor  to  the  cheap 
house  with  pride  takes  "  his  girl  "  from  the  brothel,  and 
keeps  her  in  the  same  way  and  for  the  same  reason  as 
Mr.  B.,  the  wealthy  business  man,  provides  for  Madam  X., 
only  on  a  cheaper  scale.  MANY  OF  THE  PRESENT 
INMATES  WOULD  NOT  BE  WHERE  THEY  ARE 
IF  THEY  COULD  HAVE  HAD  A  LITTLE  BETTER 
HOME  LIFE,  AND  MANY  WHO  ARE  NOT  IN  THE 
BROTHEL  WOULD  GO  THERE,  COULD  THEY 
NOT  OBTAIN  THE  SOCIETY  THEY  DESIRE  WITH 
SEX  INDULGENCES  WHICH  THEY  EXPERI- 
ENCE. 

REASON    FOR    REMAINING    IN    HOUSE 

Money   112 

To  support  self 168 

To  support  baby 22 

To  support  parents 22 

To  support  brother  and  sister 8 

To  support  nieces 2 

Because  I  like  it 23 

Can't  better  conditions 35 


282  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

No  other  home 32 

Good  health  now 2 

Till  I  can  get  married 6 

Ashamed  to  ask  for  work 4 

Good  treatment  here 7 

Easy  life    17 

No  reason 30 

The  prostitute  never  acknowledges  her  full  income.  Ac- 
cording to  the  report  of  458,  their  share  averages  over 
$10,000.  It  can  safely  be  stated  that  the  present  500 
girls  retain  from  their  one-half  over  $12,500  a  week,  or 
over  $600,000  a  year,  which  would  be  $1,200,000  a  year 
left  by  the  visitors  at  the  present  time.  What  must  it 
have  been  a  year  ago,  when  there  were  almost  a  thousand 
girls  and  much  was  spent  for  liquor,  dance,  and  music? 
The  economic  phase  of  the  problem  is  a  large  one. 

AVERAGE    WEEKLY    INCOME 

From  $5  to  $8 10    From  $25  to  $30 30 

From  9  to  10 26    From  35  to  40 36 

From  11  to  15 81     From  45  to  50 25 

From  16  to  20 129    From  55  to  75 17 

From  20  to  25 93    From  80  to  100 8 

About  25  per  cent,  of  the  girls  state  that  they  have  a 
bank  account.  I  doubt  if  over  10  per  cent.,  if  that  many, 
have  any  sum  in  the  bank  for  illness  or  to  quit  the  life. 
Since  the  large  majority  of  these  girls  claim  directly  or 
indirectly  that  their  life  is  due  to  poverty,  low  wages,  to 
support  others,  etc.,  and  since  their  own  reports  show  that 
they  make  plenty  to  save,  but  not  over  10  per  cent,  actu- 


A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  EVIL      283 

ally  do  save  any  money,  it  certainly  shows  conclusively  that 
poverty  and  low  wages  is  not  the  real  cause  of  the  girls' 
going  wrong. 

HAVE    YOU    A    BANK    ACCOUNT? 

Yes 115     No 366 

There  are  several  interesting  deductions  to  be  made 
from  the  last  four  tables  and  the  one  on  birthplace.  It 
can  be  stated  conclusively  that  where  the  parents  are  dead 
or  an  unkind  step-parent  exists,  the  girl  is  much  more 
likely  to  be  led  astray.  The  religion  of  parents  does 
not  appear  to  be  a  factor,  as  the  figures  stand  in  about 
the  proportion  of  religious  beliefs  of  the  general  popula- 
tion. The  increase  in  the  ratio  of  the  Jewish  to  other 
religions  is  high,  but  this  is  due  to  the  large  number  of 
foreigners  of  this  belief. 

The  circumstances  of  parents  and  occupation  of  father 
compare  very  favorably  with  the  general  population,  and 
argues  that  people  sin  in  all  walks  of  life.  The  numbers 
from  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  from  various  States 
are  in  direct  relation  to  distance  from  Pittsburgh  and  ease 
of  access.  The  birthplace  of  the  foreign  girl  compares 
very  well  with  the  proportion  of  various  nationalities  com- 
ing to  Pittsburgh  in  the  present  decade. 

PARENTS    LIVING    OR    DEAD 

(Landladies  and  Inmates.) 

Both  dead    260  Mother  living 103 

Both  living 87  Father  living 72 


284 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

RELIGION 


(Landladies  and  Inmates.) 

Protestant 272  Free-thinker 1 

Catholic 188  Spiritualist 1 

Jewish , 67  Agnostic 1 

Dunkard 1 

FATHER    WEALTHY,    WELL-TO-DO,    MODERATE    CIRCUM- 
STANCES   OR    POOR? 

(Landladies  and  Inmates.) 
Wealthy.  2     Well-to-do.  10     Mod.  cir.    152     Poor.  254 

OCCUPATION    OF    FATHER 


Contractor   17 

Carpenter     18 

Stone  mason 6 

Laborer 135 

Postmaster 1 

Engineer     11 

Tailor 8 

Farmer 70 

Real  Estate   1 

Mill  Superintendent  ...      2 

Clerk     21 

Painter 8 

Machinist 6 

Pumper 4 

Shoemaker    4 

Blacksmith  8 


Plumber    4 

Bookkeeper     2 

Miner    29 

Officer   & 

Brakeman 4 

Driver 1 

School  teacher 2 

Physician    1 

Conductor    1 

Waiter    1 

Merchant    10 

Fireman    7 

Florist    2 

Plasterer     1 

Mechanic    13 

Saloonkeeper    3 


A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  EVIL      285 

Cook   &     Attorney 2 

Milkman £     Mill     6 

Butcher    4     Hotel    2 

Broker    1     Editor 1 

Mechanic    .  , 13     Actor 1 

Baker    2     Manager 1 

Pattern  maker 1     Glazier    1 

Bartender 1     Glass  worker 1 

Cigar  maker 1     Rabbi    1 

Oil  driller 1     Don't  know    85 

BIRTHPLACE COUNTRY,    STATE    OR    CITY 

(Landladies,  House-keepers  and  Inmates.) 

Pennsylvania:  Pittsburgh,  154;  Philadelphia,  10; 
Surrounding  Cities,  £9;  Rest  of  Pennsylvania,  151. 
Total  344 

Arkansas,  1 ;  California,  £ ;  Colorado,  2 ;  Connecticut, 
1 ;  Georgia,  1 ;  Illinois,  4 ;  Indiana,  Q ;  Iowa,  1 ; 
Kansas,  1 ;  Kentucky,  5 ;  Louisiana,  % ;  Maryland, 
7;  Massachusetts,  £;  Michigan,  2;  Missouri,  2; 
Nebraska,  1 ;  New  Jersey,  4 ;  New  York,  34 ;  North 
Carolina,  1 ;  Ohio,  49 ;  Tennessee,  4 ;  Texas,  7 ;  Vir- 
ginia, 7;  Vermont,  1;  West  Virginia,  22.  Total.  .157 

Foreign:  Austria,  51;  Canada,  2;  Denmark,  1;  Eng- 
land, 3 ;  Germany,  16 ;  Holland,  1 ;  Ireland,  3 ; 
Italy,  9;  Russia,  18;  Scotland,  3;  Sweden,  2; 
Switzerland,  1.  Total 110 


Complete  Total 611 


286  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

WHAT   OF   THE   FUTURE   OF   THE   PROSTITUTE? 

Death  treads  in  pleasure's  footsteps  round  the  world, 
When  pleasure  treads  the  paths  which  reason  shuns. 
—Young's  "  Night  Thoughts." 

Where  reason  does  not  exist  it  cannot  shun.  The  ob- 
ject lesson  of  others'  fate  does  not  deter  many  an  indi- 
vidual from  pursuing  the  much-desired  pleasures  of  life. 
The  sorrow  is  that  'tis  seldom  that  contrition  is  manifest 
after  the  wasted  life  in  sin.  There  is  much  relief  to  the 
observing  boon  companion  of  the  old  sinner ;  "  surely," 
she  says,  "  she  was  not  bad,  see  how  easily  she  passes 
away."  There  is  seldom  the  expression  of  agony  in  the 
dying  face  of  the  worst  criminals. 

What  shall  we  do  with  the  prostitute?  Treat  her  as- 
Christ  said.  She  is  no  more  vile  than  many  others;  to 
rescue  her  you  must  study  her  nature,  her  pleasures  and 
pains.  She  must  be  given  a  chance  to  live  without  the 
idea  that  society  demands  that  she  go  wrong.  She  must 
be  told  and  compelled  to  realize  that  honest  work  is  no 
disgrace  and  that  any  work  is  better  than  disgrace. 

Give  her  a  chance,  extra  assistance  to  regain  her  power 
of  reasoning;  then  if  she  refuses  to  show  herself  a  woman, 
the  humane  and  rational  treatment  is  the  Industrial  Re- 
formatory, where  she  can  be  taught  a  good  trade,  prob- 
ably allowed  to  accumulate  a  little  for  herself,  and  learn 
the  experiences  of  the  well-behaved  in  society.  These  re- 
sults can  be  carried  out  by  the  many  good  societies  now 
wondering  how  they  can  do  something  practical.  It  is 
for  those  who  sing,  "  Throw  Out  the  Life  Line ! "  "  Res- 
cue the  Perishing,"  "  Hold  the  Fort,  for  I  am  Coming," 


A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  EVIL      287 

etc.     I  have  much  sympathy  for  practical  work,  but  only 
condemnation  for  "  faith  without  work." 

For  those  who  are  in  earnest  and  wish  to  lessen  the 
number  of  perishing  and  stray  sheep  on  the  hills,  wild  and 
bare,  there  is  one  real  line  of  practical  work  —  prophy- 
laxis, or  prevention.  The  illustration  showing  that  it  is 
better  to  build  a  fence  around  the  precipice  than  a  hos- 
pital in  the  valley  below,  is  certainly  to  the  point.  It  has 
been  shown  that  it  is  cheaper  to  purify  the  water  and  kill 
the  mosquito  than  to  care  for  the  typhoid  and  yellow- 
fever  patients,  to  say  nothing  of  the  suffering  and  deaths 
from  these  diseases.  Our  studies  have  shown  us  that 
good  parents  who  care  for  their  children,  provide  good 
innocent  amusement,  properly  guard  their  companion- 
ship, are  interested  in  the  kind  of  books  they  read,  see 
that  the  girl's  dress  is  proper,  know  why  and  where  they 
allow  them  to  visit  a  friend  over  night,  what  time  the 
beau  leaves  at  night,  do  not  allow  them  to  patronize  eating 
places  where  liquor  is  served,  and  first,  last  and  at  all 
times  properly  explain  to  these  children  what  is  right  and 
wrong  —  such  parents  will  seldom  have  girls  go  wrong. 
We  are  then  to  teach  the  parents,  and  if  the  parents  re- 
fuse to  do  their  duty,  it  will  be  up  to  the  State  to  take 
charge  of  these  children,  as  it  now  does  when  it  is  too 
late  to  prevent  the  criminal.  In  our  plan  of  prevention 
we  shall  not  forget  the  part  played  by  man  in  the  girl's 
downfall.  Make  it  a  severe  punishment  to  take  a  minor 
girl  into  a  drinking  place  or  assignation  house.  Every 
girl  is  somebody's  daughter.  What  if  she  were  yours? 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION 


HOW  LONG  IN  DIFFERENT  HOUSES? 


From  6  to  8  months.  .  .    15 

From  1  to  2  years 133 

From  2  to  3  years ....  76 
From  3  to  4  years ....  68 
From  4  to  5  years.  ...  76 
From  5  to  7  years ....  52 
From  7  to  10  years.  .  .  47 


10  to  13  years 5 

14  to  18  years 8 

20  years 1 

Over  5  years Ill 

Over  7  years 63 

Over  9  years 18 


HOW    LONG    DO    YOU    EXPECT    TO    REMAIN    IN    BUSINESS? 

Don't  know  and  in- 
8 
3 


Will  leave  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble   

As  long  as  fate  has  assigned 

As  long  as  I  must  support 
others  8 

As  long  as  my  health  per- 
mits    3 

Until  I  have  sufficient  funds  29 


definite 

Till  out  of  debt...  4 

Till  I  get  tired 4 

1  to  6  months 8 

1  to  3  years 41 

Till  I  can  marry .  .  35 

All  my  life 5 


Celibacy  of  the  priest  or  righteous  continence  in  others, 
is  not  without  a  struggle.  No  matter  how  imperious  the 
self-control,  the  tendency  still  exists,  and  its  perpetual 
suppression  is  a  sacrifice  to  the  supremacy  of  a  higher 
law. 

REASONS    WHY    MANY    MARRIED    PERSONS    SEEK 
OTHERS ADULTERY 

1.  Improper  mating,  especially  a  difference  in  intel- 
lects. There  is  less  discord  among  the  peasants  and 
working  people  on  account  of  difference  in  moral  and  in- 
tellectual faculties,  than  in  the  higher  classes  of  society. 


A  PRACTICAL  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  EVIL      289 

2.  Unfaithfulness. 

3.  Illness. 

4.  Unwillingness  for  children. 

5.  Unhappy  home  relations  as  temper,  unattractiveness, 
late    rising,   poor    cooking,   card   playing,   extravagance, 
absence  from  home,  alcoholism,  etc. 

6.  Foreigners  who  leave  their  wives  in  Europe. 

7.  Perversion. 

8.  Neglect  of  physical  charms  after  marriage. 

9.  Absence  of  loving  caresses. 

10.  Man  wants  what  he  wants  when  he  wants  it. 

An  intellectual  woman  has  a  tendency  to  become  an 
adventuress.  Good  behavior  is  protective  where  these 
women  are  known.  Thomas  says :  "  Many  women  of  fine 
natural  character  and  disposition  are  drawn  in  a  momen- 
tary and  incidental  way  into  an  irregular  life,  drift 
further,  are  married,  and  make  uncommonly  good  wives. 
If  you  drive  nature  out  at  the  door,  she  will  come  back 
through  the  window,  and  this  interest  in  greater  stimula- 
tions is,  I  believe,  the  dominant  force  in  determining  the 
choice,  or  rather  the  drift  of  the  so-called  sporting  woman. 
She  is  seeking  what  from  the  psychological  standpoint 
may  be  called  a  normal  life." 

POVERTY  AND  SOCIAL  FACTORS 

One  per  cent,  of  the  families  in  the  United  States  own 
more  than  the  other  99  per  cent. 

In  this  country  there  are  4,000,000  paupers. 

In  a  recent  winter  there  were  70,000  children  who  came 
to  school  in  New  York  hungry. 


290  THE  NEXT  GENERATION 

Lydston  says  in  an  article  on  this  subject  that  whatever 
argument  may  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  social  evil, 
nothing  can  controvert  these  fundamental  propositions: 

1.  Prostitution  has    always   existed   in   society   in   one 
form  or  another. 

2.  Its  frequency  and  form  have  adapted  themselves  to 
the    conditions   imposed   by   the   customs   of   each    social 
system. 

3.  Latter-day  social  and  economic  conditions  are  favor- 
able to  prostitution. 

4.  Prostitution  keeps  pace  with  civilization.     As   this 
advances  prostitution  increases.     The  proportion  of  pros- 
titutes is  greater  to-day  than  formerly. 

5.  Modern  industrial  enterprises  are  peculiarly  produc- 
tive of  conditions  favoring  prostitution. 

6.  Prostitution  is  responsible  for  a  large  proportion  of 
the  diseases  that  afflict  the  race. 

7.  No  universally  effective  method  of  repression  or  reg- 
ulation has  ever  been  devised. 

8.  Suppression  is  an  absolute  impossibility  under  pres- 
ent conditions. 

When  lovely  woman  stoops  to  folly, 

And  finds  too  late  that  men  betray, 
What  prayer  can  soothe  her  melancholy, 

What  charm  can  wash  her  guilt  away? 
The  only  art  her  guilt  to  cover, 

To  hide  her  shame  from  every  eye, 
To  give  repentance  to  her  lover, 

And  wring  his  bosom  —  is  to  die. 

—  Goldsmith. 


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WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
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DAY  AND  10  $1.00  oM  IHJ,  IIBUM I  lutf  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


"DEC     3  1934 


' 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


